


The Princess & the Badger-Cat

by panaili



Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: F/M, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-13
Updated: 2012-06-16
Packaged: 2017-11-05 07:34:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 9
Words: 42,534
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/403925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/panaili/pseuds/panaili
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>(AU) In a land never torn apart by the Hundred Year War, the sixteen-year-old Avatar Aang is trying his best to keep the balance between the four nations, including the increasingly antagonistic Fire Nation, which, despite his friendship with the Crown Prince Zuko, refuses to acknowledge him. Elsewhere, Sokka and Katara have been separated on their quest to find their missing father, and Sokka, pursued by the same bandits who kidnapped his sister, finds himself on the balcony of some rich girl's house in Gaoling. Oh, and a sorcerer has turned him into a badger-cat. It's just one of those days.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Beauty (and the Beast)

**Author's Note:**

> Despite the relationship warnings at the top, this story is mostly gen. The characters are aged up cos I say so. Aang and Toph are both sixteen, Katara's eighteen, Sokka's nineteen, and Zuko's twenty. Also, I like Disney movies way too much. Enjoy.

CHAPTER 1: BEAUTY (AND THE BEAST)

" _I want adventure in the great wide somewhere._

_I want it more than I can tell._

_And for once it might be grand_

_to have someone understand,_

_I want so much more than they've got planned."_

Sokka was trapped.

He dodged past a pair of loud brawlers, hugging the wall as he darted by their ankles. The brawlers didn't notice him, but moments after he ran by, Sokka heard them yell irritably as his pursuers ran into them.

The sound made Sokka's heart beat even faster. They were  _so close_. He ducked into a small crevice, which would have been enough to evade normal people, but not these guys. He hugged his prize tightly to his chest, as if he was trying to bury it under his thick, dark fur. He was running out of options. Desperately, he peeked out of his hiding spot to see if he could make it to the exit.

His heart sank. The wide gate was twenty feet away, and the men were coming too fast for him to dart past them.

"Where's that little mongrel?" he heard one of them snarl as they rounded the corner. Sokka could feel his fur standing on end just at the sound of the foul man's voice.

Just as he thought he was done for, Sokka caught sight of a leather bag sitting near his hiding spot. The bag's color had blended in with the wall, but it looked big enough for Sokka to fit in. Even better, it looked big enough to potentially hold some  _weapons_ —

He heard the heavy footsteps of his pursuers and he dove into the bag, curling up as tight as he could to try and avoid detection.

The bag was dark and clean, and unfortunately, Sokka couldn't feel anything inside but a bunch of clothing and some food. He remained still, peering out from under the flap of the bag. He could just barely see the leg of the leader, standing only a few feet away.

For a few hopeful moments, Sokka thought he might get away.

Then he heard, "Gotcha, ya little bastard," and Sokka's heart sank. He saw the men slowly approaching the bag, and all he could think was  _I'm sorry Katara. I tried._

Just then, the ground began to vibrate, as though someone very large was quickly approaching. Sokka had barely registered the feeling before he felt the bag being snatched up and swung about onto someone's back. From the feel of the person's body against the bag, Sokka knew it couldn't possibly be one of his pursuers, but he was at a loss for who it could be.

"Hey!" he heard his lead pursuer shout. "Put that bag down, little girl!"

"Shove off," snarled the girl who had picked up the bag. Sokka peeked out from under the bag's flap just in time to see one of his pursuers growl and lunge at them, as if to grab the bag from her by force.

Out of nowhere, a pillar of earth shot up and smashed into the man's face, sending him flying back into one of his partners. The two other men froze in surprise, and during that time, the earth beneath their feet swelled up and buried them both up to their knees in mud.

From the bag, Sokka caught a glimpse of jet-black hair and a dark green jacket before the bag was swung over the other side.

Coolly, the girl snarled, "Do  _not_  fuck with me right now."

As she stalked off, unknowingly carting Sokka with her, Sokka couldn't help but be impressed by how utterly dismissive she made it sound.

* * *

Toph Bei Fong – yes, of  _those_  Bei Fongs – was not having a good day.

She had managed to hold on to her championship, but only barely, though not for lack of skill. One of her new opponents had tried to trip her up by using rocks to create random vibrations, and it had taken her some time to figure out how to separate the movements. Once she did, of course, she made quick work of the man, but it meant that she was leaving a half an hour later than usual. She had barely had enough time to grab her bag and run home as it was, and that was before those jerks had tried to rob her. After that, she had only barely made it home in time to hide her bag and fighting outfit before her nurse came in.

And  _now_  she had to put up with The Ball.

"Now, Toph, dear," her mother was saying primly, tapping her teaspoon against the glass before laying it on the table with a soft clink. "I know we discussed having you wear that lovely satin gown, but it's a dark mauve, and with the Fire Nation being as antagonistic as they are being right now, I think it would be more appropriate to wear some colors traditional to the Earth Kingdom, don't you?"

"Whatever you say, Mom," Toph replied, trying to keep from falling asleep in her chair. Whether that was due to her exhaustion from fighting all night or her mother's conversation, she couldn't say, though if she had to guess, she'd put money on the latter.

"Excellent," her mother continued. "Lorilei, the dear woman, has just sent over a few new dresses in your size, all of them proper Earth Kingdom gowns. After breakfast, I think it would be best for you to head over to the fitting room and let her make any adjustments that she needs to make."

"Sure," Toph said dully. She took another bite of her oatmeal, and tried not to wince at the dry, sticky taste. Maybe if she left right now, Lorilei would be finished with the fitting before lunch, and Toph could get a few hours of sleep.

"And after that, I'll need you to start getting made up right away," her mother went on, ignorant of Toph's hopes. Toph slumped in her seat, feeling her chances for a nap slipping away, and her mother snapped, "Toph! Ladies do not slump. And eat your oats."

Toph begrudgingly took another bite of oatmeal as her mother continued, "And  _after_  you get fitted and made up, sweetie, we have lunch with Lao Chen and his darling son Dao Ye, and doesn't that just sound lovely, dear?"

The idea of spending the entire day alternately getting dressed up and talking with her mother's society friends sounded like a punishment on some level of hell to Toph, but just as she was about to snap, she shifted in her seat and felt a sharp pain from a fresh bruise on the back of her thigh. Abruptly, she flashed back to the fight the night before – how  _alive_  she felt – and she managed to control herself.

"Sounds great, Mom," Toph said with a sweet smile. Her mother hummed approvingly and kept on jabbering about that day's plans, while Toph got lost in the memories of her secret life.

* * *

Zuko was  _trying_  to bury himself in paperwork, the one job that his father entrusted him to look after, but when he was about to start on the second stack of tax documents, a gust of wind managed to sweep the papers on his desk away. Zuko lunged to protect his completed pile, panicking about the time it would take to reorganize it all, but just as he had pressed his hands down on the top of the pile, he noticed that the gust of wind had somehow only touched a few papers.

Zuko made a face.

"Okay, Aang," he said irritably, glaring at the window. "I know you're there."

From behind him, Zuko heard a hearty laugh, and he whirled around just as Aang said, "Wrong window, your princeliness!"

Aang was perched on the windowsill of one of the office's upper windows, looking oddly at home among the various books and knickknacks that decorated the shelves. He was dressed in his traditional Air Nomad robes, though if Zuko looked closely, he could see various items befitting of the other nations adorned on his body. A leather belt with stone buckles from the Earth Kingdom, a shark tooth necklace from the Water Tribes, and if Zuko looked closely, he could even see the flame-gold bracelet that he had given Aang on his last visit. It was all very eclectic, but as Aang was both an Air Nomad and the Avatar, the look suited him.

As cheerful as Aang looked, however, Zuko was really not in the mood to be playful.

"I have  _work_  to do, Aang," Zuko said, irritably grabbing the papers that Aang had blown to the floor. "I'm sure you've heard of it. I even think you might have done some work yourself, on occasion."

"Only when I have to," Aang said with a cheeky grin. He looked thoughtful for a moment and added, "Which, given how stubborn your father is being about the upcoming peace talks, might be sooner rather than later."

Zuko sighed, setting the reorganized papers on his desk and giving Aang a belabored look. "I told you," he insisted. "I have no say in how my father handles foreign affairs. The last time I tried to stick my nose into foreign matters, I was sent on a mandatory yearlong vacation. I'd just as soon stay here and manage court politics like a good crown prince."

"Hey, I'm not here to bug you about all that," Aang said, waving his arms in a defensive gesture. He used the moment to jump off the windowsill, making the fifteen-foot drop look like nothing more than a casual step. He landed and fell into the plush couch that sat opposite Zuko's desk, spreading out and taking up the entire sofa with his lanky frame.

Zuko watched him for a moment, but when Aang didn't immediately jump back up and start messing with the various objects in his office, he ducked his head back down and started in on the paperwork again.

"Hey," Aang said indignantly from the couch. "Aren't you going to ask what I  _am_  here to bug you about?"

"Nope," Zuko said.

"Seriously?"

"I am  _ignoring_  you," Zuko told Aang as he continued to review the various forms. "These papers are very important, and I—"

Aang snorted, though he still managed to make it sound affectionate instead of patronizing. "No, they're not. They're  _tax_  forms. Don't you have assistants to do that kind of stuff for you?"

Zuko looked up from his stack of paperwork long enough to scowl at Aang. "Yes," he admitted irritably, "but I like to do the work myself as well."

"No, you  _don't_ ," Aang said, sound exasperated. "You're just hiding out because of what happened with Mai."

Zuko froze when Aang said her name. It was the first time anyone had mentioned Mai since she broke up with him, leaving him with a kingdom and no fiancée. All of the servants knew better than to mention it in front of him, and while Zuko didn't doubt that Azula would be thrilled to rub it in, she had been on a mission for their father for the past three weeks and wouldn't return for another month. Even Uncle Iroh had been letting the issue slide, but Zuko imagined that was more due to his efforts to curb the growing nationalism in the Fire Nation. His father kept edging toward war, and Uncle Iroh, despite abdicating the throne after his son died on a mission, still had a fair amount of sway in the court.

Uncle Iroh was also the only person who knew that despite the Fire Nation's official stance of ignoring the Avatar, Zuko and Aang had managed to become rather close friends. Suddenly, Aang's surprise appearance made a little more sense.

"Did Uncle seriously send you here to talk about my  _feelings_?" Zuko asked Aang, making a face. "Don't you have important peace-keeping meetings to go to or something? I'm sure there are plenty of rabbit-kittens you could be saving from trees."

"Actually, rabbit-kittens can take care of themselves," Aang replied brightly, blatantly ignoring Zuko's first comment. "You'd be surprised. Just the other day, I was saving one and she bit me and jumped down on her own." He frowned down at his hand, where Zuko could see a tiny red mark on the pad of his thumb. "It _hurt_ , too."

Zuko leveled Aang with a deadpan stare. He said, "You were  _seriously_  trying to save a rabbit-kitten from a tree?"

"Well, it was a volcano, actually, but I figure the basic idea is the same," Aang replied cheerfully.

Zuko took a few moments to get over the ridiculous image  _that_  story brought forth, and then sighed. He rested his head in his hands, feeling more exhausted than he had in days.

"Did Uncle send you to check up on me, Aang?"

"Yeah," Aang admitted. His voice had lost its perpetually cheery edge, making him sound more like the sixteen-year-old he really was. "He told me what happened. I'm sorry, Zuko."

Zuko stared down at his desk, unsure of how to reply. The pain he had felt right after Mai left had become muted, somehow, but even now, the thought of speaking frankly about the whole affair made his throat close up.

In the end, he simply said, "Thanks."

Aang bit his lip, looking a bit awkward, and then asked, "Do you, uh… actually want to talk about your feelings?"

"I would rather die a horrible fiery death in the pit of Mount Huo," Zuko replied honestly.

"Good!" Aang said.

Zuko raised an eyebrow, surprised that Aang – Aang, who was practically king of that "be true to your inner self" meditation nonsense – would so easily brush off Zuko's inner turmoil.

Aang grinned at him. "See," he explained, "I was thinking that you've spent plenty of time mulling it over. And relationships are very important and all, but I think right now you just need a break."

"A… break," Zuko repeated, not liking the mischievous look in Aang's eyes.

"Yeah, a vacation," Aang confirmed. "You know, like going to Ember Island and playing in the sand, or going flying at the Southern Air Temple in the summer. Stuff like that. You need to get out of the palace."

Zuko couldn't help but be intrigued by the idea of getting away from business of court life and, more importantly, the hundreds of pairs of judging eyes. Still, the way that Aang kept grinning made him a little wary.

"You want to go to Ember Island?" he asked skeptically.

"Oh, no," Aang said, and his smile grew wider. "I have a much better plan."

And dragons help him, Zuko couldn't help but be intrigued.

* * *

"Oh, Toph," her mother said from the doorway. "Don't you look just  _lovely_."

"I'll take your word for it," Toph replied dryly. She was past frustrated with this entire ordeal. After she had been poked and prodded by Lorilei to fit into her gown for the ball, she had been made up and dressed in a new sundress. Immediately after that, she sat for two  _excruciating_  hours with her family and the Chens, making small talk about the finer intricacies of this season's fish market. Chen's son, to whom Toph's parents were clearly trying to endear her, was four years her senior and incredibly patronizing. He was polite, of course, and he clearly thought she was pretty, but those things meant nothing to Toph when he spent the entire time talking to her as though she was a simpleton.

After the lunch was  _finally_  over, Toph still wasn't given any respite. Her hair needed to be changed for The Ball, and apparently, Lorilei hadn't made  _enough_ adjustments to the gown, which was already uncomfortably tight and stiff. From the feel of the stones against her feet, Toph could tell it was nearly sundown already, which meant that any hope she had of getting a nap was  _completely_  gone.

"The guests are just now arriving," her mother went on, dismissing the servants with a familiar gesture and gently leading Toph by the elbow. She handed Toph a pair of flats at the door, and Toph tried not to sigh in irritation as she felt her connection to the earth get interrupted. At least the flats were comfortable.

Her mother continued, "And Lao Chen and his dear son are going to be joining us at the main table this evening. Doesn't that sound nice? You are Dao Ye can continue your conversation."

"What conversation?" Toph asked. As far as she recalled, lunch had been spent systematically chipping away at Dao Ye's ego as subtly as she could. She was proud of how polite she had managed to make her insults sound.

"Oh, about the fish market, I believe," her mother replied airily, and Toph got the impression that her mother didn't actually know what she was talking about. Despite this, her mother went on, "I'm so glad that you two seemed to be getting along."

Okay, now Toph knew for a fact that her mother had no idea what she was talking about.

"Yeah, sure," Toph mumbled in response, following her mother's prodding lethargically. The room began to smell like baking bread and pork, letting Toph know that they were near the kitchens. The main foyer was fairly close.

"It's very helpful," her mother said. "It's always a nuisance when one doesn't get along with her intended."

For a moment, Toph didn't process what her mother had said. Then realization came crashing into her consciousness like a tree falling in the forest, and she froze. With her next gesture, she dug her heels into the ground and yanked her arm away from her mother's grasp.

"Wait,  _what_?" Toph asked, eyes wide and horrified.

From the sound of tapping on stone, Toph knew her mother had turned to face her. The woman made a soft sigh, sounding nearly frustrated, and then said, "Chen Dao Ye is to be your fiancée, sweetheart. We were going to make the announcement tonight."

"And what, you weren't even going to  _tell_  me?" Toph asked, outraged. "Actually, scratch that. You weren't even going to  _ask_  my opinion?"

"It was a sudden offer," her mother replied, like that was a reasonable explanation. "And Lao Chen's business has been very profitable lately. His son will make a fine husband."

"His son," Toph snarled, "is a mindless  _buffoon_!"

"Toph!" her mother scolded, laying hands on Toph's shoulders to try and quell the volume. "Those are  _not_  words a lady uses!"

"Fine!" Toph yelled. "If it means marrying that  _moron_ , then I am more than fine with not being a lady!" She pushed her mother's hands off her arms, and then concluded, "It is  _not happening_!"

"Toph," her mother began, but Toph had already slipped out of her fine shoes and took off running back the way she came.

She was not going to put up with this crap  _anymore_.

* * *

Sokka couldn't imagine his luck.

Now, granted, it was a weird sort of luck. After all, anyone who was  _truly_  lucky wouldn't have been turned into a badger-cat in the first place, but Sokka was an optimist. He might have run into that bit of rough luck, but since then, he had managed to evade his pursuers even  _after_  he snatched their very expensive necklace… thing. And just when he was about to be finally captured, who should come to his rescue but—

Well, okay, Sokka had no idea who this girl was. But, from the fancy house he found himself in, Sokka would have to guess someone with a  _lot_  of money.

He had been thrown into a dark wooden closet, bag and all, and had the common sense to stay hidden there until after he ceased to hear any noise from outside. Then, he took the time to explore the room outside the cabinet. Honestly, if Sokka had to guess, he would say it was the quarters for  _some_  kind of royal princess, based on the sheer number of fancy gowns and elegant, expensive pieces of furniture. It didn't make sense that a princess would hang around where Sokka had been, but maybe he had been rescued by the princess' bodyguard.

Either way, after Sokka had explored the room, he found a door to a balcony. Figuring it would probably be safer to be found  _outside_  the royal chambers, he managed to open the door and escape to the outdoors. On the left side of the balcony, a tree was very conveniently branching out just over the ledge, and Sokka made himself comfortable on one of the thicker branches.

Then, because it had been a long day and he was used to sleeping outdoors by this point, Sokka fell asleep.

He didn't wake up until the sun was going down in the west, covering the entire balcony in a cool shadow. If he focused, Sokka could even see the first stars beginning to shine in the darkening sky. He didn't really want to move from his perch on the branch, however. In the distance, he could hear the sounds of a party going on, and Sokka knew that any sort of movement might draw attention toward him, even if he was high up in a tree. Staying put would be a better option.

Unfortunately, just then he heard a crash and a shriek from inside the room, and he shot up on his perch before thinking about it.

From his position on the tree branch, Sokka could look through the glass door to the balcony. The source of the noise turned out to be a beautiful young girl who, despite the crash, didn't seem any worse for wear. Instead, she looked furious. Sokka guessed that she had been the one to cause the damage.

Before Sokka could do the smart thing and run off, the girl barged onto the balcony. Her face was flushed with anger, though Sokka could barely tell due to her artfully applied makeup. Her elegant moss green gown belied the way she was holding herself, as though she was ready to attack just about anyone who approached her.

"I cannot  _believe_  them!" she exclaimed, nearly pulling her hair out of its complicated hairstyle in her outrage.

Sokka's ears perked up at the sound – he recognized the voice as belonging to the girl who had snatched him from the bandits. Intrigued, he edged forward on the branch to try and get a better look.

"I mean, really," she kept ranting, unaware of her small observer. "Me? Married? To  _that guy_? What are they  _thinking_? There is  _no way – NO WAY –_  I'm getting married! Never! Never  _ever!_  Ugh!"

The branch was starting to get too thin to walk on, but Sokka couldn't quite see the girl's face. He wasn't sure why he felt the need to look at her, exactly, but he figured the least he could do was know what his rescuer looked like.

Besides, she was upset. Sokka hated it when girls were upset.

With that in mind, he jumped down from the branch and landed on the stone wall that lined the balcony. Even though he was well out of her eyesight, the instant he touched down on the wall, the girl stiffened and whirled around to face him, surprised.

"What the-," she said, startled. Sokka froze on the wall, but she didn't look angry. Actually, she didn't seem to be looking at him at all. With a start, Sokka realized that the girl's eyes weren't just pale – they were filmed over. She was  _blind._

"Huh," the girl said, tilting her head quizzically. "A badger-cat? I thought Mom had all the strays around here killed."

To Sokka, that sounded like a great cue to  _leave_ , but just as he was about to jump back into the tree and dart away, the girl knelt down and started making a clicking sound with her tongue. "C'mere, badger-kitty, I won't hurt you."

She faced him and held out a hand for Sokka to sniff. Instead of approaching her, however, Sokka stayed frozen where he was. The entire situation was  _wrong_ , and suddenly, Sokka realized why. If this girl was blind – and her eyes were a dead giveaway to that – how in the world could she tell that he was a badger-cat? Or know precisely where he was? It made no  _sense_.

And that's when Sokka made his mistake.

Without thinking, he blurted out, "How can you  _see_  me?"

The girl's blind eyes widened in shock.


	2. Strangers (Like Me)

CHAPTER 2: STRANGERS (LIKE ME)

" _I can see there's so much to learn._

_It's all close and yet so far._

_I see myself as people see me._

_I just know there's something bigger out there._

_I wanna know (can you show me?)_

_I wanna know 'bout these strangers like me."_

 

Of the things that Toph had expected when she stormed up to her room, a talking badger-cat had  _definitely_  not been an option.

"How can you  _talk_?" she asked, unconsciously mimicking the animal's own question.

The badger-cat shrunk away from her, tensing as if to leap, and Toph decided that she was  _not_  going to allow this new development to run away. With a sharp gesture, she made the top layer of stone on the balcony shift to trap the animal's tiny claws. In response, the badger-cat struggled and hissed, but the stone held true.

"Answer my question," Toph commanded, trying to sound like her father did when he was instructing the servants. In Toph's experience, it was very effective.

The badger-cat apparently wasn't particularly versed in servant etiquette, however, for all he did was hiss louder. Then, giving up on escaping from the stone, he said, "You should answer  _my_  question! How can you see me when you're blind? There's no way you could have heard me!" Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "And loosen these stones, they're pinching."

"No," Toph replied instantly, rolling her eyes. "And I think since  _I'm_  the one holding  _you_  captive, my questions get priority."

" _I_  asked first!"

"What are you,  _five_?"

"I'm  _almost twenty_ , thank you very much," the badger-cat snidely snarled back, renewing his fight against the stone.

Toph bit back her initial reply, processing what the animal had said. Then, slowly, she said, "Badger-cats don't live until they're twenty."

The badger-cat paused and, in a strangely human gesture, tilted his head quizzically. "Huh?" he said.

"Badger-cats die sometime between ages nine and eleven," Toph said, quoting precisely from her textbook. When she was fourteen, Toph had gone through a phase where she was obsessed with animals. Her parents had encouraged it, apparently choosing to see it as a manifestation of her maternal instincts, but really, Toph just thought animals were cool. " _Therefore_ ," she concluded, "you can't be almost twenty. You would be dead."

Instead of bowing to Toph's logical insight, the badger-cat instead replied incredulously, "How do you even  _know_  that?"

"I read books," Toph answered.

"Wait, how can you  _read_?"

"How  _can you talk_?" Toph said, not bothering to explain the arduous process by which she had learned to read Braille.

Finally, the badger-cat seemed cowed enough to be straight with her. He calmed down and sat back in his stone bindings, clearly frustrated but unable to leave. With a long-suffering sigh, he answered her, "I'm not actually a badger-cat. I'm a human."

"A human?" Toph repeated, furrowing her brow. "And what, you just… change into a badger-cat from time to time?"

" _No_ ," he replied, sounding irritable. "A sorcerer turned me into a badger-cat."

"Oh, yeah, because that makes sense."

"Hey, who here is a badger-cat that can  _attest_  to the sorcerer story? You or me?"

Toph had to admit: he had a point. "Okay," she acquiesced, "Fine, continue."

The badger-cat huffed, sounding very put-upon, and he explained, "My sister and I were traveling together, and about a week ago, we were attacked by bandits. They kidnapped my sister and turned me into a badger-cat. I've been running from them ever since."

Toph listened to the badger-cat's story with growing skepticism. Then, when he seemed to be finished with the condensed version, she asked, "Are you leaving out anything? Like maybe the part where you explain how the hell they _turned_  you into a  _badger-cat_?"

"Hey, I have no idea either," the animal said, shrugging his tiny shoulders in a very odd gesture. "All I know is, one minute I'm trying to stop them from grabbing my sister, and the next I see a bright blue light, and then  _bam_! I'm a badger-cat."

"Just like that," Toph said incredulously.

"Don't ask me," he said. "I didn't understand magic when I was human. I'm still kind of convinced bending is a giant fraud, and my own  _sister_  is a waterbender." The badger-cat twitched irritably, then bent and gnawed a little at his paw. Looking back up at her, he said, "Speaking of magic bending – if I promise not to run away, will you let me go? My paws are starting to go numb."

Toph considered the notion for a moment, and then gestured to smooth the stone back out. The badger-cat immediately set to work smoothing out the ruffled fur on his paws with his tongue.

As the badger-cat made himself more comfortable, Toph leaned back against the stone wall of her balcony. Thinking over the conversation they had shared, Toph said, "Your sister's a waterbender? That means you must be from the Water Tribes."

"Yep," the badger-cat confirmed. "My name's Sokka, by the way. What's yours?"

"Toph," she replied shortly. "If you're from the Water Tribe, what are you doing in Gaoling?" Then, hit by realization, she added, "And furthermore, what are you doing on my balcony?"

"I hid in your bag at that festival thing," Sokka explained, choosing to answer the second question first.

"Festival thing?" Toph repeated. "Do you mean the Earth Rumble?"

"I didn't exactly stick around to watch," Sokka said, making another strange shrugging gesture. "I was being chased by those bandits that took my sister."

Toph's eyes widened as she realized exactly what that meant. "Wait, so those jerks I beat up this morning-?"

"Yep," answered Sokka. "They were chasing me. Sorry?"

Toph shrugged. "Whatever, they were pathetic. But that doesn't explain why you were in Gaoling in the first place."

"We were looking for my dad," Sokka said. "He's in the Water Tribe navy. About four months ago, his letters completely stopped. So awhile back, my sister and I decided to look for him. Last we heard, he was in a port town near here, and we followed the clues to Gaoling."

"And then the bandits attacked you," Toph concluded for him. "Right?"

"Yeah," he confirmed. "And I'm pretty sure they're connected with my dad's disappearance somehow. They  _have_  to be."

Toph didn't bother mentioning that pirates and bandits were rampant in border and port towns, especially in Gaoling, which also tended to attract earthbending thugs. If Sokka wanted to believe the bandits were connected with his father, it would probably help his investigation.

Besides, despite all the times Toph had sat at the breakfast table and listened to her father gripe about the various crimes around the city, she had never heard of any kind of  _magic_  being used. That was just strange.

Just as she was processing all this new information, Toph suddenly felt a strange rumble beneath her feet. She frowned and wiggled her bare toes against the stone. Taking a deep breath, she extended her earthbending out to feel down the hallway outside her room, through the many corridors and all the way down to the main foyer. She had grown quite adept at judging people's movements at a distance, even despite the mess of vibrations she felt from people at the party.

"What are you doing?" Sokka asked, his voice cutting into her concentration.

Toph raised a hand to silence him, shaking her head to deter him from saying anything else. She focused her earthbending in on the corridor opposite the main receiving room, which lead out to the west garden. There were four burly men creeping through the hallway, too far away from the party to be guests. One of the men was walking weird, and Toph realized with a start that it was the man she had smacked in the face with a pillar, judging by the way he was favoring his left side.

Snapping back to the balcony, Toph hissed, "Those guys are here!"

"What?" Sokka asked. "The bandits? How do you know?"

"Earthbending," she replied succinctly. "Never mind that – the real question is, how did they find us? No one even knows who I am at the Earth Rumble!"

At this, Sokka laughed nervously. "Well," he said, shifting on his perch uncomfortably, "I think they might be tracking me, actually. I kind of stole something of theirs."

"Stole something?" Toph repeated. "What?"

"This," he said, and Toph found a foreign object being pressed into her hand by a pair of sharp claws. She examined the stolen artifact as Sokka explained, "It's some kind of necklace. I stole it from the sorcerer after he turned me into a badger-cat. I didn't mean to – I was just trying to go after my sister, and he was in the way, and there was some kind of fight…" Sokka trailed off, and then concluded, "I just wound up with it. They've been chasing me ever since, so I haven't exactly been able to figure out what it is."

Toph handed the weird necklace back to him, shrugging. "Whatever it is," she said, "we don't have much time. Wait here," she commanded. She dashed back into her room and collected a few items, stuffing everything into her Earth Rumble bag. It was mostly packed already; yesterday had been day one of a three-day tournament, so Toph had been prepared. When she had finished packing, she ran back out to the balcony.

"We can climb down the tree," Toph said, gesturing. "It sucks, but it's close enough to the house to brace yourself, and I've been doing it for years."

"You're coming with me?" Sokka asked, and Toph could feel his surprise by the way he sat up on his hind legs.

"Hey, these jerks attacked me and then broke into my house," Toph replied, enjoying the way her exhaustion had been banished by the promise of adventure. "I'm not about to let that slide."

She climbed out onto the tree, feeling the familiar disorientation of separating from the earth. She kept one hand braced on the balcony wall as she descended, though her progress was unavoidably hindered by her rather cumbersome dress. She felt Sokka jump off the balcony and follow her, though afterward his progress was nearly silent.

"But what about your family?" Sokka asked, his voice close to her head as they both climbed down the tree.

Toph thought about her parents, who she loved dearly, and who had no idea that their house had been invaded by a group of bandits. She paused for a moment, but then remembered how they had decided to spring a fiancée on her and sell her away to the highest bidder, without even bothering to ask her what she wanted for her future. Her mother hadn't even come after her when she ran off, clearly too worried about giving the wrong impression to the guests.

Toph set her jaw resolutely, anger and pain warring in her heart.

"Trust me," Toph replied quietly, resuming her progress. "My parents are the  _least_  of my worries right now."

* * *

Sokka followed after Toph, climbing down the branches with a grace that he had never had when he was human. Despite the complicated gown she wore, the young woman seemed to handle the tree nearly as well. Sokka guessed that this probably wasn't the first time she had escaped this way.

"How close are they?" he asked, perched on a branch near her head. They were near the ground, and Toph jumped down the remaining few feet with a soft grunt of effort. She paused on the ground for a moment in a crouch, concentrating, and then ascertained, "They're almost to the room. We'd better book it."

Without saying another word, Sokka followed Toph as she darted across the yard. For the first time, he saw the vastness of the estate, and if it had been any other situation, he would have frozen in shock. They weren't crossing a yard: they were crossing a  _valley_. From their position, Sokka could see at least three different gardens, and multiple groves of trees. The entire estate was beautifully tended to, making the entire sight like something out of a storybook.

_Yep_ , Sokka thought as he ran after Toph.  _Definitely a princess_.

"C'mon, slowpoke _,"_ Toph commanded, easily outpacing Sokka with her longer legs.

Sokka tried to match up with her speed, but found himself running short on air much quicker than anticipated. He resisted the urge to swear, knowing that in his _real_  body he'd have no problems keeping up. However, badger-cats were meant for short sprints across meadows, not dashes across an entire freaking field.

He had just caught up with Toph when she suddenly stopped, frowning and half turning back toward the house. He nearly rammed into the back of her legs but changed his orientation at the last moment and leapt up on her back, clinging to her shoulders just above the dark knapsack on her back.

Toph's eyes widened in surprise, but to her credit, she didn't knock him off out of shock. Instead, she hissed at him, "I think they're climbing down the tree, but I can't tell."

Sokka looked back. From his position on her shoulders, he could clearly see the balcony and its neighboring oak tree. Sure enough, the bandits were scrambling down the tree hastily, following after the biggest of their group, who was cupping a strange glowing object in his hands.

"They are," Sokka confirmed, heart sinking. "And I think I've figured out how they're tracking me."

"Explain it to me later," Toph said. "Right now, we need to lose 'em. Hang on!"

With that, Toph turned and continued across the yard, with Sokka clinging to her shoulders for dear life. She began to move even faster, which seemed impossible until Sokka looked down and realized that she was moving the earth beneath her feet in small mounds, giving each stride an extra push of momentum. Despite the earthbending, Toph didn't seem to be overly taxed; in fact, as their speed increased, her balance evened out, as though the earth was moving her instead of the other way around.

For the first time, Sokka realized that he wasn't dealing with just any earthbender. He and Katara had been traveling around the Earth Kingdom for a while now, and he had never seen  _anyone_  manipulate earth the way Toph seemed to be doing. Granted, he hadn't been running around with tons of earthbenders during that time, but even a layman like Sokka was able to tell that Toph's abilities were different, somehow.

As it was, however, Sokka was hardly able to process these thoughts before they were outside the estate and running into the dense forest that lined the back half of the land. Toph slowed down considerably here, unable to run on the earth like she had been doing, but she didn't seem to be hampered overly much by the trees.

Well, not the tree trunks, anyway.

"Ow!" she yelped, running headlong into a low-hanging branch.

"Uh," Sokka said, confused. "There's… a branch there?"

"I'm  _blind_ , idiot," she snarled.

"…right," Sokka said, and, graciously not commenting on her mistake in  _hiding in a forest_ , added, "Well, there's another one coming up in about five seconds."

Toph made an irritable noise, but didn't say anything more as she ducked underneath it. Sokka made a point to keep an eye out for the low-hanging brush.

"Are they getting closer?" he whispered to her.

"Too close," she muttered, crouching lower to the ground as she maneuvered her way through the forest. They had to deal with more brush as they went deeper, and Toph spent most of the time with her arms stretched out in front of her, pushing the branches away. Despite the head start they had from the bandits, getting through the forest was too difficult to maintain the same speed.

Sokka kept looking back over his shoulders, keeping his eyes out for the strange blue light he had seen emanating from the lead bandit's hands. The forest was too dark to see anything clearly; everything wound up being distorted by shadow, and even though being a badger-cat gave Sokka an edge in nighttime vision, he wasn't confident against the men who had managed to chase him this far.

"What should we do?" he whispered, tucking up close to Toph's neck, staring back through the forest toward the brightly lit estate. Where ever the men were, they were smart enough to stay away from being framed by the lights.

"Shh," Toph instructed, pausing. Sokka froze on her shoulder, waiting. For a few moments, all was silent but for the sounds of the forest. Sokka could scarcely hear Toph breathing.

Then, with a rush, the earth beneath them shuddered massively, as though it was being torn asunder. From all four sides, Sokka heard screams of astonishment, and suddenly he could see a few of the bandits leaping up in shock, trying their best to avoid being swallowed up by the ground. Their efforts were in vain, as the mud rippled like water and all four men sunk up to their necks in damp dirt. The entire attack took less than a minute, and Sokka felt almost startled by the silence as the earth finally settled beneath them.

Toph straightened and turned, stomping with heavy steps toward the nearest bandit, who was trapped like his companions with scarcely any room to breathe, much less move. She knelt in front of him and jabbed a finger in his face, though her gaze was directed somewhere to the right of his head.

"That," she said loudly, clearly intending for all the bandits to hear, "was for trespassing.  _And_  for trying to rob me earlier." She stood up and brushed off her dress, a gesture that seemed ridiculously delicate after what Sokka had just seen. Then, glaring blankly at no one, Toph declared, " _Don't_  follow us. Or I'll bury you morons completely next time."

"We're not after  _you_ ," said one of the bandits, struggling in his mud prison. "Just give us the beast and we'll—"

Toph stomped her foot, making the earth shudder and twist around the man, who abruptly stopped talking. Sokka glanced at her face and saw a mask of anger, clear and terrifying, and he curled tighter around her neck.

"Did I  _say_  that I gave a shit what you thought?" Toph asked. "Because I don't. This is  _my_  badger-cat now, and if you try and take him back, I'm going to hurt you. And that's a  _promise_."

With that, Toph whirled around and took off into the forest, keeping her head ducked low to avoid any more branches. They made it through the densest parts in complete silence and without incident, and soon the two of them were walking at a normal pace. Sokka had stopped checking behind them to see if the bandits had somehow managed to escape, and Toph seemed less tense.

"It'll take us a couple of miles to get into town," Toph finally said, breaking the silence. "We could find some things there."

"Sounds good," Sokka replied. He wasn't exactly sure what to say after the whole incident. He could tell that she hadn't been faking any of the anger he had seen in her expression before, and it intimidated him. Toph had buried four men up to their necks in the matter of a minute, and  _that_  had been her holding back. Sokka wondered darkly what she could do if she really meant to harm someone.

Then again, she had done it to defend him, so it had to mean something. He wasn't sure  _what_  it meant, but as intimidating as she had been, Toph was on his side, and she had absolutely no reason to be. Sokka didn't really know how to deal with that.

Well, there was always the old standby.

"So," he said slowly, unable to let the let the silence linger. "I'm  _your_  badger-cat now?"

"Oh, shut up," Toph replied, but Sokka could hear a smile in her voice.


	3. Anytime (You Need a Friend)

CHAPTER 3: ANYTIME (YOU NEED A FRIEND)

" _When you're down, and your luck runs out,_

_or if you're in trouble or in doubt,_

_It's okay; turn my way_

_Anytime you need a friend."_

 

"This," Zuko said, glaring at the boy in front of him, "is  _not_  a vacation."

Aang merely regarded Zuko with an irritatingly blithe grin, looking for all the world as though he had been caught sneaking a treat, not blatantly lying. "Did I say vacation?"

"Pretty sure you did," Zuko replied, trying rather unsuccessfully to keep the irritation out of his voice.

"Oh, my mistake," Aang said, and Zuko very nearly punched him. "What I meant was, I want you to accompany me on a trip to investigate pirates. It's kind of like a vacation."

"It is NOTHING like a vacation," Zuko shouted.

"Shh," Aang shushed him, gesturing for him to be quiet while he peeked out from behind Appa's head to look down at the pirate ship floating beneath them. "The clouds are blocking us from view, but I'm pretty sure if you start yelling, someone could hear you."

"You should be happy I'm not  _throttling_  you," Zuko snarled, though he hissed it quietly instead of shouting.

Aang smiled back at him, and damn the kid, it was almost enough to make Zuko forgive him. He had wondered sometimes how Aang, as the Avatar, was able to get the various leaders of important nations to listen to him, but the more he considered the matter, the more he realized that part of it had to do with Aang's ability to charm more than anything else. It must be an Avatar thing.

Granted, Aang's ability to charm anyone and anything seemed to fizzle out when Zuko's father was concerned, but that didn't really surprise him much. He admired his father, but the older he got, the more Zuko got the impression that his father wasn't actually human.

"So," Zuko said, giving up on being mad at Aang for now, though he stored it away to be gnawed upon later. "What have these pirates done to warrant the attention of the Avatar? Besides, y'know, being pirates and all."

Aang visibly perked up at Zuko's neutral tone, and he quickly launched into a brief. "Well, at first, they were just doing standard pirate stuff – you know, looting and pillaging and whatnot, and it was bad, but the border town militias were able to take care of it."

"Until recently," Zuko guessed, vaguely recalling a few reports that he had paged through. "Wait," he said, pinging upon one memory in particular, "are these the guys who were accused of robbing that library?"

"The very same ones," Aang confirmed, grimacing. He wasn't much for books, but Aang was a strong advocate of preserving tradition, and the burgled library had been one of the oldest in the world. The Fire Sages had been furious when it was discovered that pirates had managed to loot it and steal several ancient scrolls.

"So is this a mission from my father?" Zuko asked incredulously. The last time the Fire Nation had actively sought out the Avatar's help, the Avatar had been Fire Nation himself.

"Unofficially," Aang said, shooting Zuko a brief grin. "The Fire Sages contacted me and asked me to look into it off the record. And then I heard word from the militia in Gaoling that there has been a lot more pirate activity on their borders lately, and the Earth King officially sanctioned my help. Apparently there's more going on with this group than just the standard pirate stuff."

"Like what, exactly?" Zuko questioned. Even as the Avatar, Aang was used more as a judge of international politics than a spy, especially when it came to unknown circumstances such as these. The Earth King wouldn't have dared request the services of the Avatar for such a matter unless he had good reason.

"It's completely confidential," Aang said, "and I mean 'confidential' in that way that I really shouldn't be telling the crown prince of the Fire Nation about  _any_  of it, but—," Aang grinned, "—let's just say that you're my mercenary for hire. Completely justified disclosure."

"Oh yeah," Zuko replied dryly, "That'll definitely work."

"You no longer get to have a name," Aang told him, smirking. Then he flipped over on his backside, sitting cross-legged on the back of Appa's head. His expression grew serious, and he told Zuko, "According to multiple sources, the documents that the pirates stole from the library include information about an ancient magic. Black magic."

"What does it do?" Zuko asked.

"As far as I can tell," said Aang, "it uses bending. But not in the normal way – a person with bending can't just manipulate their stance and use their own bending to do magic or whatever. Instead, it  _steals_  bending from people."

Zuko narrowed his eyes in confusion, unable to comprehend what Aang was trying to say. "How can it steal bending? That's like… trying to steal breathing. Or, jumping or running, or something. Bending isn't something external you can steal."

Aang shrugged. "That's what I thought too, but then I considered it. It's like harnessing a person's life force, except instead of someone's life, you take their natural ability to manipulate matter. Not everyone can bend, after all. And some people are a lot more naturally talented at it than others, which implies that there  _is_  some kind of supply of energy involved. I've been meditating with some of the past Avatars about it, and even those who haven't heard of this kind of magic can confirm that the concept of 'energy' bending, at least, is valid."

"Energy bending?"

"You know, manipulating a person's ability to bend," Aang explained. "I don't know if anyone in the world could actually  _do_ it – I mean, I could, maybe, if the situation was that desperate, but it basically involves pitting your own bending energy against someone else's."

Zuko stared at Aang as he digested this new information. He finally said, "That's creepy."

"I think so too," Aang said, his voice nearly a whisper. Then he took a breath and went on, "But what it really means is that bending  _can_  be manipulated, so it makes sense that there might be a dark magic that could take a person's bending away and use that energy to do  _other_  stuff."

"Like what?" asked Zuko warily, not sure if he really wanted to hear the answer.

"Like… magic, I guess," Aang offered, looking a bit baffled by the concept as well. "According to some reports, these pirates have been using some object to cast magic at people. I've heard reports of people flying, objects changing shape, weird spells – all kinds of stuff. It's all circumspect, but there's just too much evidence that something  _really weird_  is going on."

Zuko nodded, not pleased by the implications of such activity. "It makes sense why they'd call you in, then."

"Yeah," Aang said. "This definitely goes against pretty much everything I stand for."

Zuko considered the entire situation, thinking back to the recent months. He was ashamed to think that he had been so wrapped up in his own relationship drama that he overlooked the signs of this growing issue, but the more he thought of it, he realized that he really had been limiting his concerns to things within the Fire Nation borders. Without knowing the problems in the Earth Kingdom, the library robbery had seemed like nothing more than petty theft.

Then, with a start, he realized that not everyone in the royal family had been as closed off as he had been.

"That explains it!" he exclaimed, punching one hand with his fist in realization.

"Explains what?" Aang queried, looking perplexed.

"Azula's mysterious mission," Zuko clarified. "She wouldn't tell me what it was, and – well, okay, I didn't really care enough to ask – but Father asked her to investigate something for him. And you know Azula, she gets all thrilled about having 'secret missions', so she couldn't help but gloat to me about it, even though she wasn't supposed to  _say_  anything." He rolled his eyes, and then said, "Mai went with her. I think it was mainly to get away from me, but she and Ty Lee both decided to join Azula."

"Azula is investigating the pirates?" Aang asked, making a face. He had never liked Azula, and had once told Zuko in confidence that the princess "gave him the creeps."

Zuko thought it was really quite impressive on Azula's part: she had managed to make the one person who liked  _everyone_  dislike her.

"She's looking into the library thing, I think," Zuko said. "To be honest, I wasn't really listening when she told me. There's only so much 'Father loves me  _so_ much more than  _you_!' that I can take."

"Good point," Aang said, nodding. Then he sighed and said, "Well, hopefully her team won't cause any disruptions today."

"What are you thinking?" Zuko asked, recognizing the shift in Aang's tone. When he had been banished from the Fire Nation – only for a year, thankfully, but banished all the same – he and Aang had managed to cross paths. In the course of that year, they had done enough missions together that Zuko was plenty familiar with how Aang communicated, and vise-versa. In a way, his friendship with Aang had changed what should have been an awful year into something incredibly valuable.

In return, Aang had made connections with the Fire Nation royal family in the only way he could have. Not only was Zuko the crown prince, but since his uncle Iroh had accompanied him on his yearlong banishment, Aang also managed to befriend the head advisor to the Fire Lord's council – and the Fire Lord's brother. Sometimes Zuko was amazed at the way that the world seemed to shape itself around Aang, even if it never seemed intentional at the time. It was almost as though his banishment had been less about choice and more about destiny.

As it was, the now sixteen-year-old Aang had benefitted greatly from his experiences with Zuko and especially Uncle Iroh, who was infamous in the Fire Nation for being the greatest strategist in a century. Uncle Iroh's influence was clear in Aang's smile as he said, "I was thinking we'd wing it."

"I hope you mean that literally," Zuko replied, "because I am not a fan of swimming."

Aang laughed brightly, and then turned to look back over the edge of Appa's head. "All right," he said, cracking his knuckles in a decisive gesture. "Let's do this."

* * *

It took a few hours, but Sokka and Toph had managed to make it to the nearby town. By the time they saw the buildings in the distance, Toph's feet were sore and Sokka's stomach was growling horribly, though he didn't say anything from his perch on her shoulders. They were both tired and tense; even though Toph had long since felt any sort of vibration that suggested they were being followed, she still kept checking back periodically. From the way Sokka kept shifting, she knew that he was doing the same.

It was too late to get a room in an inn, and Toph didn't really like staying in strange homes anyway. So they made camp at the edge of the town, which – given that Toph had little more than clothing and food – consisted mainly of tearing into the meager food supplies that she had brought.

Toph chewed a mouthful of dry bread and considered her situation, leaning against the earth tent she had made in case of rain. To her side, Sokka was gnawing on some of the dried meat from her pack, sounding rapturous. He had made some claim about not being able to eat bread and cheese in his new badger-cat form, waxing on about being a predator, and Toph had eventually just given up and let him have the jerky.

"I think," she said, after washing the bread down with some water from her water skin, "that I'm going to help you find your sister."

She felt Sokka look up at her, startled into motionlessness, and she added, defensively, "I mean, it's not like you can protect  _yourself_. If I leave, you're practically a goner."

"Hey," Sokka said, sounding annoyed. "I protected myself  _just fine_  before you showed up, thank you very much."

"Oh, yeah, because running like a little baby—"

"It's a  _strategic retreat_ , and I totally clawed one of them in the face once!"

"I'm sure those tiny scratches made him cry a little."

"Oh, shut up," Sokka muttered grumpily. "If I was human, you wouldn't be laughing. I'm a warrior."

Toph couldn't help it; she snorted and started giggling.

"Hey!"

"No, I just," she began, and then snorted again, and explained, "I just pictured you, like, a badger-cat, with a tiny sword and a shield and—"

"Oh,  _come on_!"

But the idea was stuck now, and Toph started to laugh louder, feeling tears of laughter prick the sides of her eyes. She wasn't quite picturing it, but her vibration sight was enough that shapes and weights were clear, and she could just imagine what such an image would feel like.

Beside her, Sokka was grumbling something about the Water Tribe and warriors and swords, and she covered her mouth to try and make herself stop snickering.

"—and how can you  _picture_  it, anyway?" Sokka kept grumbling, "You're  _blind_ , and I still have  _no idea_  how  _that_  whole thing works."

Toph wiped away a tear and said, "It's earthbending."

"Earthbending?" Sokka repeated, sounding honestly inquisitive now.

"Yeah," she explained. "I use earthbending to look around. See?" she said, pointing down to her feet and wiggling her toes in the cool earth. "I'm connected to the earth, so I can feel everything that's on it. You, me, the town, the trees – I can even feel the rabbit-mice in their burrow over there."

She gestured across the meadow, where she knew that a mother rabbit-mouse was curled up in an underground burrow with her seven babies, and felt Sokka follow her gesture, unaware that he wouldn't be able to see where it was.

He turned back toward her, slowly, and said, "That's… pretty cool."

"Yeah," she said, grinning. "I think so, too." Then she remembered her situation and her smile faded away.

"What?" Sokka asked. He clamored on her outstretched legs, which made his image in her mind grow fuzzy, but she could tell that he was staring closer at her expression.

"My parents don't get it," she explained, shrugging. "All they see is a blind girl. I honestly don't think anyone gets it, really."

"Well, that's dumb," Sokka said. His tone was so decisive that Toph raised her eyebrows in surprise, and he explained, "I mean, c'mon. You guys are in the  _Earth Kingdom_. Surely someone's figured out how to use earthbending to see before, right?"

"I don't think so," Toph said, after considering the matter. "You know the Earth Rumble that we were at? I've been fighting in those for like, four years, and the entire time, no one's  _ever_  been able to do the same kind of bending that I do. And everyone is always shocked the first time they realize that I really am blind." She laughed once, allowing herself to express how ridiculous she thought it was, and said, "It's so  _stupid_. I don't get how those guys even  _learned_  earthbending sometimes."

"Because it's so different from yours?" Sokka asked.

"I guess so," she said. "I mean, I learned how to bend from the badger-moles. They're blind too, so it seemed really… natural, I guess."

"That's really neat," Sokka told her. "And I say this as someone who  _really_  hates talking about magic bending."

Toph shrugged. "I'd probably hate it too if sorcerers had turned me into a mangy animal."

"Hey, I am a  _gorgeous_  badger-cat, I'll have you know," Sokka said, taking the time to mess around with his fur as if to impress upon her its quality. "And what I meant was, it's kind of annoying to grow up with bending all around when you can't even understand it, much less do any bending."

"I guess so," Toph admitted. She felt the need to add, "It's just as annoying growing up as a bender when no one will let you bend, either."

"Well, I don't care if you bend," Sokka affirmed. He stretched, arching his back and lightly digging his claws into her thighs. Then, without a word, he curled up on her lap and laid his head down on her stomach, clearly exhausted.

Toph thought about acting like a proper lady – Sokka, after all, was technically a guy, and he hadn't even asked if he could use her as a pillow – but decided against it. She didn't actually care, and beside his warmth, the feeling of him resting solidly on her lap was comforting, like when she was little and had stuffed animals.

So she stretched out on the ground and rested her hands beneath her head, smiling at the simple feeling of the earth beneath her and cool air against her face.

Just before she drifted off, she heard Sokka say, "Thank you. For coming with me."

"Anytime," she replied, and wondered, vaguely, if this was what having a friend felt like.

* * *

To be honest, Aang  _did_  have more of a plan than he let on. Unfortunately, most of his plan pertained to what he would do  _after_  invading the pirate ship. He hadn't spent much time thinking on how he would actually get on the ship itself.

But hey, that's what ingenuity was for.

Aang closed his eyes and reached out for the water he could feel in the clouds. In the back of his mind, he could hear Master Pakku lecturing about keeping with the natural flow and spreading the water crystals around evenly, and he found himself sitting taller from the sheer memory of the rather taciturn man. Waterbending had been the easiest transition from airbending, but it the training had definitely been very intense.

"What are you doing?" Zuko asked. Aang kept his eyes closed, but he heard the sharp sound of metal and knew that his friend was preparing his swords.

"Giving us a fog cover," Aang replied.

"Is that going to be thick enough for Appa to fly us down?"

Aang opened his eyes and stared down at the pirate ship below. He allowed his bending to enhance his vision, separating out the water droplets in the air for long enough to get a solid look at their target, and then shook his head.

"Nah," said Aang, "I don't think that's going to work."

He reached a hand behind his back to make sure his glider was secure, and then stepped up closer to the edge of Appa's forehead. "Hey buddy," he whispered to Appa. "Wait up for us, okay?"

Appa blinked. Only Aang would have been able to recognize the implied  _don't get killed_  inherent in his reaction, and he smiled encouragingly at his friend.

Then Aang turned to Zuko and said, "Sorry about this. Don't scream."

"What?" Zuko asked, perplexed, but before he was able to say any more, Aang had swept both of them off Appa's head with one swift lunge.

They fell through the fog like a pair of interlocked rocks. Aang was the only reason they weren't spinning like mad; he wrapped his arms and legs around Zuko – who was, and probably always would be, taller and broader than he was – and used airbending to regulate their position. They plummeted quickly but smoothly, aiming for the starboard side of the ship.

Zuko, to his credit, had managed not to scream, but as they fell, he kept a running commentary in Aang's ear. "Ihateyou; Ihateyou; Ihateyou—"

Just before they hit the water, Aang sent out a jet of air to break up the surface, and then used his waterbending to cushion their landing. They plunged into the ocean without excess noise, and Aang quickly spun an air bubble around both of them. When it was all over, both he and Zuko were bobbing comfortably, albeit a bit awkwardly, just beneath the surface of the water.

As soon as he was confident that the bubble would hold, Aang looked over at Zuko. The ocean water made everything gray and murky, but he could definitely still feel the Fire Prince's glare.

"Well, we're not swimming," Aang said brightly.

In the darkness, Zuko literally  _growled_ , and Aang had the sudden mental image of what an underwater fireball would look like.

"What?" he asked defensively. He was pretty sure Zuko wouldn't attack him when they were  _in the ocean_ , but that confidence was crumbling under the weight of Zuko's glower. "Did you have a better way to get to the pirate ship?"

For a second, Aang was convinced that Zuko actually  _was_  going to try to start a firefight in the middle of the ocean, but just as he was edging away, Zuko breathed out a long, aggravated sigh, and snarled, "We are  _never_  speaking of this  _again_."

Aang grinned, relieved. "Oh, come on, Zuko, it was just a hug. Which… was followed by a fifty-foot drop. It didn't kill you."

"Bite me." There was a pause, and then Zuko added, "And if my swords get wet, I'm going to be pissed."

"I'll buy you new ones," Aang assured him.

"That is so  _not_  the point."

"Anyway," Aang said, looking up through the murky water. The fog was keeping any sun from peeking through the clouds, which made it harder to see, but he still managed to catch a glimpse of the pirate ship off to his right. They had bobbed a little further away than he had planned, but that wasn't a big deal. Aang confirmed that his air bubble was intact, and then began the smooth, flowing motions that he needed to pull them closer to the vessel.

It didn't take long for them to reach the stern of the ship. Waterbending them onto the ship would be trickier, but there really wasn't much choice in the matter. Aang had chosen to investigate early in the morning for this very reason. There was probably going to be a lookout at the rear of the ship, but one or two guards wouldn't be too difficult to take out.

"Ready?" he asked, looking over at Zuko.

"Oh,  _now_  you ask if I'm ready?" muttered Zuko bitterly.

"I'll take that as a 'yes'," replied Aang, determinedly ignoring the criticism.

He gestured and felt the water swell up beneath them, propelling them through the surface of the water and into the air. Aang naturally switched to manipulating the air currents around them, and to his side, he saw Zuko instinctively twist into a flip. As they fell back down toward the deck, Aang called forth enough of an air cushion that they both landed lightly, rather than crashing on deck and alerting the whole crew.

All of his efforts didn't matter much, however; even as they were landing, Aang heard a cry of alarm from nearby.  _That'd be the lookout, then._  It was kind of depressing, really; why couldn't pirates actually be irresponsible, bumbling drunks like they were in stories? It would make things so much easier.

Luckily, Zuko was well prepared for the situation. With one smooth gesture, he pulled out his swords and leapt toward the pirate, who stumbled back against the bulkhead in alarm. Zuko lunged with one sword and then spun on his heel, bringing the second sword around with a swift slice. He thrust the hilt of the second sword against the pirate's head, and the man immediately dropped.

Zuko glanced around, his swords still held at the ready. When no other attack seemed forthcoming, he looked back at Aang, asking, "Do you hear anything?"

"Nope," Aang said, straightening out of his crouch and brushing out his tunic. He had decided to go with a plainer outfit than normal, considering that he was investigating in secret instead of as the Avatar, as it usually was. He looked down at the downed pirate and made a sympathetic face, saying, "We should probably hide this guy."

"I think there's a storage closet over there," Zuko suggested.

Together they managed to drag the unconscious pirate to the closet, and after securing his hands and feet, they shut him in.

Aang glanced up and down the passageways, trying to keep an eye out for any more lookouts that might be standing guard. He suspected there would be another guard at the bow, but he hoped that there wouldn't be any more. He looked back at Zuko and said, "I don't see anyone else."

Zuko was examining the ship with a puzzled expression on his face. Ignoring Aang's comment, he asked, "You said these pirates originated in the Fire Nation, didn't you?"

"It's suspected," Aang said, shrugging. "We don't actually know. Why?"

"Look at the ship," Zuko instructed, gesturing to the thick, dark wood that made up the bulkhead. "The workmanship, the designs – even the materials. It's definitely not a Fire Nation ship." He frowned, and then concluded, "To be honest… I think it's a Water Tribe ship."

Aang's eyes widened, seeing exactly what Zuko meant. When he thought about it, the design and structure of the ship was much more similar to that of the Water Tribe than any of the other nations. Unfortunately, that fact didn't fit with any of his theories regarding the pirates.

"There's been no mention of the Water Tribe in any of this," Aang said slowly, considering the implication.

"Stolen?" Zuko suggested.

"Let's hope so," said Aang. "Otherwise, we're missing a  _huge_  piece of the puzzle, here." He frowned, finding it incredibly difficult to rationalize this new information, and then shook his head to clear it. "It doesn't matter right now," Aang said simply.

"Yeah," Zuko confirmed, nodding down the passageway. "Let's just find the control room and see if we can't get those documents back."

"Right," Aang said, nodding sharply. He followed Zuko's lead, as the older boy had spent more time on ships in general than Aang had, and had even spent a month working in tandem with the Southern Water Tribe Navy during his yearlong banishment from the Fire Nation. That was before he met Aang, of course, but Aang had heard about the whole ordeal after the fact.

They managed to move undetected through the remainder of the ship, though occasionally they had to hide or maneuver abruptly to avoid being sighted. Zuko seemed to remember more about Water Tribe vessels as he went on, more than once making split second decisions that wound up saving them both a headache later. Eventually, they made it to the control room. From their position, they could see in through the window without being completely visible to those working inside.

Zuko nudged him and gestured down the passageway. The indication was clear: if they stayed in their position, they were sure to be spotted soon. It was now or never.

Aang nodded, then turned with determination toward the guarded door. Pulling his staff silently out from it's holster, he readied his position slowly, and then lunged.

His airbending attack slammed the guard into the wooden door with a loud bang, sending the entire structure crashing down into the center room. Zuko followed closely behind him, sending out bright flashes of fire to blind the men inside. In the space of a heartbeat, Zuko had abandoned firebending and pulled out his swords, the sound of metal ricocheting sharply through the small room.

Aang immediately twisted into an attack position, using his airbending to trip up his opponents and send them flying out the open door. The pirates were capable fighters, but Zuko and Aang's surprise attack did its job; within minutes, they had incapacitated all of the men.

Zuko dragged the last unconscious man through the doorway, and Aang used a complicated set of airbending moves to manipulate the door back into its frame, offering the two of them more security.

He turned to Zuko, saying, "We need to find those scrolls."

Zuko nodded and started digging through the various documents in the room without another word. Aang joined him, and for a few tense moments, the only sound was that of paper rustling. They were both still on edge; their attack in the control room wouldn't have gone unnoticed, and neither of them wanted to be trapped when the reinforcements arrived.

Finally, Aang found a pair of scrolls that looked both ancient and distinctly Fire Nation. He unrolled one of them and saw strange designs and instructions on how to manipulate magic. Quickly, he unrolled the other, which detailed a ritual. Aang read through this one as fast as he could, trying to get a gist of the important parts, and when he was finished, he stared at it in horror.

"This isn't good," Aang said, his voice sounding empty.

"Did you find it?" Zuko asked, standing up. He had been searching on the opposite side of the room, and still had a few documents in his hands.

"It's a magic ritual," explained Aang. He was still staring down at the scroll, worry twisting in his gut. "He's going to use bending magic to raise the dead."

"What?" Zuko asked, eyes wide. "How is that possible?"

"I'm not exactly sure," Aang replied. "It says something about emulating the balance of the Avatar, and achieving great levels of power, but it's really complicated—"

"Okay," interrupted Zuko, sounding decisive. "It doesn't matter now. Point is, you found the scrolls, and we need to go. Now." He grabbed Aang's arm and began tugging him back toward the door, his other hand held at the ready in a firebending stance. His swords were safely stored on his back.

Aang tucked the scrolls into his sash, but just as he did that, the door blew back from its frame with a powerful blast. It rammed directly into Zuko and sent him flying. Aang managed to miss the hit, but Zuko's hold on his arm sent him careening into a nearby desk, and he tumbled to the floor.

He jumped up quickly, shooting off an air blast at the nearest pirate, but more came to fill in his place. Aang sank back into a defensive stance and prepared to fight them off, but a booming voice interrupted him.

"Don't even think about it," said one of the pirates, a burly man whose thick beard was riddled with gray. The man's eyes were cold and dark as he added, "Or your friend is going to regret it.

Aang straightened, turning instinctively to look toward where Zuko had fallen. He was lying stunned underneath the heavy wooden door, clearly hurting from where his head hit the wall. Even more alarming, standing over him were three separate pirates, all of whom had fireballs ready in their hands, just waiting for Aang to make a move.

"An airbender, are we?" the burly pirate queried, staring down at Aang with calculating eyes. "And my men tell me that your friend over there was throwing fire around. Is that right?"

Aang didn't say anything, choosing instead to maintain a steady glare, but the pirate didn't seem to be bothered by his lack of response.

Rather, the man laughed boisterously, giving Aang a toothy grin. He reached out a hand and said, "You two are clever little thieves, I'll give you that. But I'll be taking my scrolls back."

Aang tensed for a moment, unwilling to just  _hand over_  the very stolen scrolls he'd been sent to retrieve, but he saw the men standing over Zuko make the fire in their hands grow, clearly sending him a warning. Slowly, Aang reached in his sash and removed the documents, handing them to the main pirate with a scowl.

The pirate took the items and grinned down at Aang. His expression reminded Aang of a shark, an illusion only supported by the ice in the man's eyes. "My name is Captain Akim," he said. "And I think you and your friend over there are going to be my prisoners. What say you, airbender?"

Aang knew a hopeless situation when he saw one. Zuko was stirring slightly beneath the door, but the pirates were still aiming fire at his head, and those who weren't were ready to attack if Aang tried anything.

So Aang sighed, swallowed his anger, and held up his hands to surrender.


	4. Never (Had a Friend Like Me)

CHAPTER 4: NEVER (HAD A FRIEND LIKE ME)

" _Well, Ali Baba had them fourty thieves,_

_Scheherezad-ie had a thousand tales._

_Well, Master, you're in luck, 'cause up your sleeves,_

_You've got a brand of magic, never fails._

_You've got some power in your corner now,_

_Some heavy ammunition in your camp."_

 

"Turn around."

"I told you, I'm not looking!"

"Look, Mangy, I can't tell if your eyes are closed or not, so for my peace of mind, you are going to  _turn around_  so I can change out of this horrible excuse for clothing into something less awful."

Sokka rolled his eyes and obligingly turned, staring blankly at a tree trunk. Behind him, he could hear the swish of clothing as Toph fought with her now-dirty gown, trying to maneuver herself out of the complicated outfit. It was late morning by the time they woke up, and after finishing off the remainder of their food, Toph had declared that she was not staying in her fancy clothes any longer, muttering something about "room to breathe."

"I  _like_  your dress," Sokka replied petulantly, though he could see what she meant when it came to discomfort. The moss green gown looked beautiful on Toph, but the way it was cut was clearly not meant for travel.

"Well, I'll be sure to let you and it share a tearful goodbye when I sell it," Toph called back.

"You're going to  _sell it_?" Sokka said, leaping up in surprise.

"Turn  _around!_ "

"Gah, sorry!" Sokka hastily resumed his position, though he muttered, "Seriously, it's not like  _you_  can see yourself—"

" _So_ not the point, pervert."

"I am not a pervert!" He paused, and then felt the need to add, "And I  _wasn't looking_!"

Toph scoffed, saying, "Whatever," but she didn't sound particularly angry, so Sokka figured she believed him.

Sokka went to work cleaning his fur while he waited, a practice which he found oddly relaxing. There was something neat about being able to bathe oneself, even if it had taken him a few nights to follow his new badger-cat instincts and figure it out. While he was grooming, he asked again, "But seriously, you're  _selling_ that? It must be worth a fortune."

"Hence why I'm selling it," Toph replied in a matter-of-fact tone. "That, and all these pearls my mother strung up in my hair. We need the money."

"Well, yeah," Sokka agreed, "But won't your parents be mad that you sold your fancy gown?"

Toph laughed. "This is hardly the only dress I have," she informed him.

"But… it looks so  _expensive_."

"So?"

Sokka, who had been brought up in a small village where fish were still considered valid currency, could not even begin to understand the way Toph was utterly writing off the luxury of her entire existence. He sputtered for a few moments, flabbergasted, and then finally settled with, "How can you just… sell it? Doesn't it mean anything to you?"

"Look," Toph said, sounding a bit frustrated. "I grew up with fancy clothes, and if my parents get their way, I'll die with fancy clothes. I know that some people think that's really important or something, but I've never really cared. So if other people want to pay money for my dress and pearls, I'm going to let them. It's not like I can't get more."

"I… don't even know how to react to that," Sokka replied, still reeling from this new viewpoint.

"That's because you're a commoner," Toph said imperiously, and Sokka was just about to be offended when she continued, "and you actually have 'common sense' and 'practicality', which is more than I can say for my crowd." There was a final rustle of clothing, and Toph said, "Okay, you can turn around now."

Sokka turned back toward Toph and was startled by the change. Instead of a princess, the girl in front of him looked more like a common traveler. She was still pretty, of course, though she had scrubbed off the make-up and removed her jewelry. She wore a tan tunic over a dark green shirt, which was cinched at the hips with a light green sash. Her pants were the same green as her shirt, and hung loosely to just past her knees. Aside from pair of cuffs on her wrists and ankles, she wore no finery, and her feet were just as bare as they had been the night before.

At the moment, Toph was busy messing with her hair, seated cross-legged on the ground. She had removed the pearls, but instead of taking out the rows of tiny braids, she simply tugged her hair back and tied it all together with a length of yellow ribbon from her bag. Her bangs hung messily in her eyes after being freed from the pearls, but Toph didn't seem to mind. It wasn't like it would hinder her vision.

"There," she said, patting her hair a few times to ensure its stability. "It's not as secure as I normally like it, but I can't make a bun with my hair in braids like this, and I don't want to deal with combing it out."

"Wow," Sokka said. Toph frowned, puzzled at his reaction, and he explained, "It's just—you look completely different."

"I suppose," Toph acknowledged. She shrugged and said, "This is how I actually  _like_  to dress." She reached down and picked up her discarded dress, adding, "My parents make me wear this stuff. I think it's uncomfortable, but apparently, my worth as a lady is directed related to how many steps it takes to put on my dress."

Sokka tilted his head at the gown, noting how dirty it had become. "Do you still think you'll be able to sell it? It looks like a pair of bear-pigs rolled around in it."

"Oh, the mud?" Toph asked, and then laughed. "No problem." She made a swift, smooth movement with her free hand, and immediately, all the dirt on her dress fell to the ground, like snow toppling off a tree branch. She held the now clean dress up for Sokka to see, saying, "I'm sure there are some tears, but it'll still fetch a good price in town. Add in the pearls, and we shouldn't have any worries for food."

"Cool," Sokka said, truly impressed with the way Toph made her earthbending seem so casual. Even Katara needed to prepare herself for most applications of waterbending, though she had grown in her strength by leaps and bounds as she became an adult.

The thought of Katara made Sokka's heart pang sadly, and he clutched at the stolen necklace that was still around his neck.  _I'll save you, Katara_ , he thought, watching as his newfound friend packed up the gown and pearls into her knapsack.  _I promise_.

He shook off his dismal thoughts, trying his best to keep his mind in the moment. As Toph slung her bag onto her back, Sokka took the opportunity to scramble back up on her shoulders. Toph didn't seem to mind him perching there, and he could see a lot more from a higher position, and it felt safer than staying on the ground.

"We should get a map, too," Sokka suggested as they set out. "I lost my old one when they cursed me, and I need to get reoriented."

"Whatever you say," Toph said, shrugging. "I'm just the muscle of this operation. You can be the brains."

For a moment, Sokka wondered if he should take offense to being protected by a slender, delicate-featured princess instead of the other way around, but then he remembered the ferocity of her fighting the night before, and thought,  _nah_.

"Excellent," Sokka purred approvingly, and Toph snorted, clearly amused by the vibration against her neck. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

* * *

Zuko's head was fuzzy during the entire capture, and he only became really aware of what was going on when he suddenly found himself thrown onto a hard metal floor.

"Don't even think about trying to firebend your way out of this," said a deep, mocking voice. "You'll burn yourself alive before you ever get this metal hot enough to melt."

Zuko stayed on the ground for a few moments, feeling the cold floor give some relief to his throbbing head. Then Aang was there, kneeling beside him and saying, "Hey, Zuko, are you okay? You took that hit pretty hard."

"Yeah," mumbled Zuko after a moment, his headache settling into a dull throb. He blinked a few times and then sat back on his knees, rubbing his forehead. He could feel a knot forming in the back of his head, but he didn't want to try and gage how bad it was just yet. Instead, he stared blankly into the darkness of the cell, which was lit only by a tiny window above the heavy metal door.

The light was just enough for Zuko to see the back of the cell, and he suddenly gave a start. "Hey!" he said stupidly, staring back at the person who was leaning against the corner in the far end of the cell.

Aang looked over in surprise, clearly just now realizing that there was another person in the cell.

The person in question shifted further into the light, and Zuko realized that it was a young woman with long, curly hair that fell down her back. Her eyes were stunningly blue against her dark skin, and overall, Zuko got the strangest impression of familiarity from her. The feeling only got worse when the girl smiled at them, abashed, and he suddenly realized where he had seen features like hers before.

"You're Water Tribe!" he said, almost accusingly, and then realized how abrupt it sounded. "I mean – sorry, I just wasn't expecting to see someone from the Water Tribe here."

"I'm Aang, by the way," Aang said brightly, and Zuko could see him holding back laughter at Zuko's reaction. "He's Zuko. We're not Water Tribe."

"I figured as much," said the woman, her grin echoing Aang's amusement.

Zuko felt himself beginning to flush, and he backtracked, "I just haven't seen anyone from the Water Tribe in a few years, that's all. And I didn't realize there were other prisoners."

"That's true," Aang supported him. "Did you try to rob the pirates too?" Then, almost as an afterthought, he added, "And what's your name?"

"I'm Katara," she informed them. Her expression grew puzzled, and she asked, "You tried to rob the pirates? In the middle of the ocean?"

Aang and Zuko exchanged glances, both silently realizing that it might have been a smarter plan to wait until the pirates had pulled into a port to investigate, and then turned back to Katara, shrugging.

"Pretty much," Aang confirmed.

"It didn't work out," added Zuko dryly.

"Clearly," Katara said, arching an eyebrow at them.

"So," said Aang, standing up and looking around the room curiously. "What did you do?"

Katara shrugged, leaning forward and wrapping her arms around her knees. "I just got kidnapped," she informed them. "My brother and I were traveling in the Earth Kingdom, and I saw these pirates beating up a pair of kids. So, I intervened… and froze them in a block of ice."

At Zuko and Aang's raised eyebrows, Katara exclaimed, "What? You don't beat up kids. It's just  _wrong_."

"No, no, we agree," Zuko said, nodding at her.

"This is my 'impressed' face," Aang said, pointing at himself. "I've never thought about freezing someone in ice before."

"I've done it to my brother like, a million times," Katara said, her smile taking a fonder turn. "Anyway, the next day, a whole bunch of pirates showed up and attacked us. We almost escaped, but—" Katara frowned, her brow furrowing, and went on, "—I don't know what happened. There was this bright flash of light, and suddenly Sokka was gone, and I was so surprised that I didn't realize there was a guy behind me until he had already grabbed me. Then they brought me to their ship and I've been here ever since."

Zuko stared at her, puzzling through her tale. "They made your brother disappear?"

"I don't know," Katara said sadly. "They did  _something_. I'm really worried about him. It's just been the two of us for so long, and now…" She trailed off, clearly caught up in memories, and then finished, "I'm afraid that something really bad happened to him."

Aang and Zuko exchanged another glance, recognizing the story for the truth it held.

Though Katara was caught up in her concerns for her brother, she was sharp, and didn't miss the significant look the two boys shared. "What?" she asked, narrowing her eyes. Then, coming to a swift realization, she said, "You know something, don't you? Have you seen my brother Sokka?"

Aang looked at Katara sadly. "No," he said, sounding honestly disheartened. "We haven't seen Sokka."

Zuko hated the way the news made Katara's face fall, and he remembered how he felt the entire time his mother had been missing. Every time a person would come back from abroad, he eagerly awaited any news that might be related to her, and every single time, he was horribly disappointed. The pain was a dull memory now – he had found his mother himself at the end of his yearlong banishment from the Fire Nation, prompting his eventual return – but he still remembered the way  _not knowing_  made him feel so powerless. It was that same feeling that he recognized in Katara's eyes now.

Which is why Zuko found himself saying, "But we do know something."

Aang shot him a surprised look, though it was more curious than annoyed. Zuko gave him a small nod – he wasn't sure if he was asking for trust or permission, exactly – and Aang shrugged, as if to say,  _do what you want_.

"What is it?" Katara asked, looking back and forth between Aang and Zuko.

"The pirates stole some stuff from one of the oldest libraries in the Fire Nation," Zuko informed her quietly. He shot Aang a look, and the younger boy took the initiative to hover on a small air scooter, peeking out of the high window. It was much too small for anyone to climb through, but it gave him a decent look out into the corridor.

"There's no guard," he said, landing lightly on the metal floor. "I guess they're pretty confident in this jail."

"There's a couple of guards down the hall, I think," Katara supplied. "They came when I called one time, so there's someone within shouting distance."

"I'm more concerned with someone listening in," Zuko said. "They don't know that we're here from the Fire Nation, and if they find out, they might act rashly."

"The Fire Nation?" Katara repeated. She gave Aang a puzzled look. "But you just airbended, didn't you? I didn't realize that the Fire Nation employed Air Nomads."

Zuko and Aang exchanged yet another glance, unsure of how to tackle that question.

Katara didn't miss this exchange either, and she said, "Oh, come on, just let me know. Who am I going to tell, anyway? The wall?"

"It's not  _you_  we're worried about," Zuko reassured her, glancing at the door significantly.

"It doesn't really matter, though, if no one's there," Aang said. He crouched down nearer to Katara, and then whispered conspiringly, "I'm not just any Air Nomad. I'm the Avatar."

Katara's eyes widened, and she made a soft "ohhh" of understanding. Then she smiled, saying, "I didn't realize the Avatar was so young! You're my age!"

Aang grinned back at her, cheerfully stating, "I'm still in training. Can only master so much bending at once, and all."

"That's so neat," Katara said. She looked over at Zuko, asking, "How do you know him?"

For some reason, her interested expression made Zuko feel self-conscious, and he stammered a bit before saying, "Uh, well—"

He wasn't sure why, but the thought of acknowledging his role as the crown prince left him feeling uncomfortable. He wasn't ashamed of his royal blood, but he felt like telling her would do more harm than good. It was probably just leftover security concerns from his past, as Zuko had spent so long acting undercover when traveling with Aang, but it was still enough to give him pause.

Aang seemed to recognize his discomfort, and he cut in, "He trained in firebending with me." He moved to sit by Zuko, sitting in a familiar meditative post, and elaborated, "His uncle taught me firebending, and Zuko and I became really good friends through it."

"Yeah," Zuko confirmed, nodding gratefully to his friend. "We've been working together for awhile."

"Cool," Katara said, taking in the new information with clear interest. She then moved on, asking, "So what did you guys find out?"

They filled her in as quickly as they could, trying to keep their voices down just in case the sound carried. When they had finished, Katara took a few moments to consider it all, and then said, "That explains a lot."

"Yeah?" Zuko queried. He was beginning to appreciate how sharp Katara was; his head already ached, and working with someone who caught on well made it a lot easier.

"They keep talking about collecting benders," Katara said. "Not to me, of course, but I've been here awhile, and y'know, you pick up on things. They're trying to get a bender from each of the elements."

"Well, that explains why they didn't kill us," Aang theorized. "Good for us, I guess.

"They want to steal our bending and use it to raise the dead," Zuko predicted darkly. "That's not exactly what I'd call 'good'."

Katara shot him a grin, nose crinkling, and Zuko felt himself begin to flush before he hurriedly squashed the reaction. He hadn't blushed because of a girl since his first encounters with Mai, and from the way Aang seemed to be laughing at him with his eyes, the younger boy knew it, too. Zuko glared at him.

"Well," Katara said, seemingly oblivious to her influence, "We don't have worry just yet." She gestured around the jail cell, saying, "They still don't have an earthbender."

"That gives us time, then," Zuko said, realizing what needed to be done.

"Time?" repeated Aang, curious.

"To figure out how to bust out of here."

* * *

Toph had just finished paying for some salted jerky when Sokka jumped back on her shoulder excitedly. He had been walking since they got into town, as the sight of a small girl with a badger-cat on her shoulders attracted too much attention.

"I've got it," Sokka said, as though discovering the solution to the mysteries of the universe. They were at the edge of town now, so no one was around to be mystified by his ability to talk.

"Got what?" Toph asked, only half paying attention. After making it to town and selling her dress, Sokka had been talking at length about a multitude of topics and Toph, who had never been good at planning or theory, had quickly grown bored with listening to Sokka's many tangents.

"You need to kiss me," Sokka said, like that was somehow a reasonable request and not at all completely random.

"Excuse me?" Toph asked. She tried her best not to make a face, but it was a stretch.

"Y'know, like that fairytale," Sokka explained. "The Princess and the Frog-Otter, right? In that story, all the princess had to do was kiss him and bam! He's human again. I bet that'd work here, too."

"You really think that a fairytale is good source material?"

"Well, we're not exactly drowning in options here," Sokka said defensively. Toph felt his bushy tail swiping against her arm in irritation. "Besides, why not? Fairytales have to be based off something, right?"

"Yeah, boredom," Toph muttered. Then, feeling Sokka's gaze on her, she said, "I am not letting you kiss me, so you can forget about it."

"Why not?" Sokka asked, whining. "C'mon, it'd just be a little peck, just to see if it works-"

"No way," Toph said resolutely, shaking her head. "It's not going to work, and I refuse to kiss a badger-cat."

"Seriously?" exclaimed Sokka, mildly offended. He leapt from her shoulder to perch on a stone wall, and she could tell from his stance that he was glaring petulantly at her. "You won't even give it a shot, just because you don't like the idea of kissing a badger-cat?"

"No," Toph replied, frowning at his tone. "I just know it won't work, and I don't want to kiss you if I know it's not going to do anything."

"You don't know that it won't work," Sokka protested.

"Yeah I do," Toph said, "Because I'm not a princess. Hence, no magic princess power."

"Wait, you're not?" said Sokka, sounding honestly perplexed. "But your house-"

"My dad is obscenely rich," Toph answered his unspoken question, shrugging. "Doesn't mean I'm a princess, though."

"Oh," Sokka said, sounding somewhat disappointed.

After a moment, during which they were both rather awkwardly silent, Toph added, "Also, kissing a badger-cat would be totally gross."

"Hey!"

"What? I don't know where you've been. You probably have fleas."

"I do not!"

Toph grinned broadly, enjoying how flustered Sokka seemed to get when she teased him. She set down her bag and climbed up on the wall to sit next to him. Without thinking about it, she started petting his fur, as though he was a real badger-cat, and his tension instantly faded.

"I'm just kidding," she assured him. She felt some of his fur shed on her hand, and then added, "But man, your fur is long enough that you could have entire _cities_  of fleas, and no one would ever know."

" _I'd_  know," grumbled Sokka, but he didn't move other than to arch his neck, giving her fingers more area to scratch. There was a moment of silence before he said, " _Seriously_ , that feels amazing. How can badger-cats survive? This is ridiculous. They should have died off years ago, as soon as predators figured out that movement is  _impossible_  when there is petting."

Toph felt him start to purr under her hand, and she raised her eyebrows curiously.

"No, that's not even me," he said, reacting to her expression. "I can't control that. It's like my fur is talking."

" _That's_  not completely weird."

"Whatever," Sokka said. He was starting to go languid, as though he was incredibly sleepy. "It's awesome."

"I don't know if I should be creeped out or not by how happy this makes you."

"Hey, as long the petting continues, you can be creeped out all you want." Then, as somewhat of an afterthought, he added, "It  _is_  really messed up. Petting be damned, I want to be human again."

"Well," said Toph, after considering the notion for a moment, "I don't know about fairytales, but my father did tell me something about a witch that lives near here."

Sokka sat up abruptly, though Toph's hand stayed on his back, and he asked, "Wait, a witch? Like – boils, and magic and stuff? And you just thought of this _now_?"

Toph made a face at him, replying, "Well, it's not like I  _know_  the witch. I just started thinking about fairytales when you brought up that stupid story, and I remembered my dad telling me about this witch – Madame Lucia, I think. Everyone around here's scared of her, but my dad thinks it's all complete bull. Magic, that is."

"Well, obviously  _not,_ " Sokka said, sitting up on his hind legs and gesturing to himself.

"Well, maybe  _she_  could help, then," Toph suggested. She shrugged, going on, "I mean, it won't help us find your sister any faster, but at least you wouldn't be a badger-cat."

"I could  _fight_ ," Sokka said rapturously. He put his paws on Toph's lap, looking up toward her, and he said, "We have to find this witch. She could  _help_  me."

"Get out of my face," muttered Toph, swatting at him. She jumped down from the wall and felt Sokka follow her lead, jumping on the ground beside her feet. Then she said, "Guess it's back into town, then."

"Why?" Sokka asked.

"Well, I don't know where the witch lives," Toph said, "but apparently everyone here is scared of her. I'm sure  _someone_  can tell us where she lives."

"Yeah," confirmed Sokka, and Toph could  _hear_  the grin in his voice. "And then I can be  _human_  again."


	5. Poor (Unfortunate Souls)

CHAPTER 5: POOR (UNFORTUNATE SOULS)

" _You poor unfortunate soul,_

_It's sad, but true._

_If you want to cross the bridge, my sweet_

_You've got to pay the toll._

_Take a gulp and take a breath and go ahead and sign the scroll."_

 

 

"Hey!" Katara shouted, banging on the door. "Heeeey!"

Zuko and Aang watched their new friend pound on the metal door, sounding positively frantic. Zuko was glad that Katara had managed to get his headache down to a dull throb before they implemented their plan; without water, she couldn't do much more than reduce some of the swelling, but considering how loudly she was yelling now, Zuko was grateful for even that much.

"What do you want?" snarled one of the pirates from outside the door.

"I cannot  _possibly_  use the chamber pot with  _boys_  in my cell," huffed Katara, sounding so outrageously put-upon that Zuko could practically see Azula standing there, mimicking her. "I need to use yours."

A moment of silence followed this declaration, and the pirate in question awkwardly replied, "Look, you can just—"

"No, I  _can't_!" cried Katara. "I don't think you understand! They're  _boys_! I can't go to the bathroom in front of  _boys_!" Then she switched her tone, pleading, "Please, I  _really_  need to go!"

Pirate or not, the man was no match for the pleas of the pretty teenager. After another awkward pause, Zuko heard the sound of keys jangling, and shortly thereafter, the metal door swung open. The pirate stood at the ready, a fireball prepped in his right hand, but when he wasn't attacked, he let the flame die down to little more than a small flicker. His companion responded likewise, settling back in a support position.

"Follow me," he commanded Katara, glaring at Aang and Zuko over her shoulder. Then he looked back at her, adding, "Don't try anything."

"Of  _course_  not," Katara said haughtily, flouncing out the door. The second pirate walked ahead of her and the other followed, looking annoyed.

Zuko resisted the urge to smile.

As soon as the sound of Katara and the pirates' footsteps faded away, Aang and Zuko jumped up, readying themselves on either side of the doorway. They both knew they wouldn't have a long time before Katara and her guards returned, and then every moment would be crucial.

As they settled into position, Aang grinned cheekily at Zuko, clearly choosing to ignore the inherent tension of the moment.

"You  _like_  her, don't you?" Aang teased.

Zuko was so taken aback by the statement that for a moment, all he could do was stare at Aang with a dumb look on his face. Then it caught up with him, and Zuko felt his face burning as he protested, "N-no, I don't!"

"You totally do!" laughed Aang, managing to sound gleeful even as he kept his voice low.

"I do  _not_ ," Zuko maintained, though he could feel that his face was still red. Then he accused, "And is this  _really_  the time?"

"Why not?" Aang asked, shrugging. "It's the first time I've seen you get goofy over a girl since Mai."

"I don't get  _goofy_ ," Zuko muttered.

"Oh, you definitely do."

" _Princes_  do not get  _goofy_ ," Zuko claimed, glaring at the still snickering Aang. Then, remembering Aang's initial interaction with Katara, he decided to fight fire with fire. "Besides," he said, "I saw how you were acting – you think she's cute, too."

He had been hoping to catch Aang in the boy's own trap, but unfortunately, Aang didn't fall for it.

"Sure I do," Aang said calmly, not looking nearly as flustered as Zuko had hoped. He went on, "She's really pretty. But I already have someone on my mind, when it comes to all that."

Zuko stared at his longtime friend in confusion, trying to recall if Aang had mentioned any new lady friends lately. Then, all at once, it hit him.

Zuko groaned, hitting his forehead with the heel of one hand. " _Don't_  tell me you're still going on about  _Swamp Girl_?"

"Swamp Girl?" Aang repeated, making a face. "Really? Is that what we're calling her?" He sounded a little offended.

"Look," Zuko said, ignoring his friend's annoyance. "You saw some  _random girl_  in a  _vision_  in a weird swamp,  _four years ago_. That doesn't mean anything. Especially considering it was  _four_ years ago.

"She's  _important_!" protested Aang, eyes wide. "I know it! People don't just get visions of strange girls for no reason."

"It was just some weird dream, Aang," Zuko said, giving Aang an exasperated look. "I mean, come on. Flying boars don't even exist."

Aang stared back at him, his expression an odd mix of sadness and irritation. He took a deep breath, and then said slowly, "What if I had said that to you, after your vision about your mom?"

That stopped Zuko cold. He and Aang had found their way into a mysterious swamp during their journey together, toward the end of Zuko's banishment. The swamp had been populated by a weird group of waterbenders that manipulated plants to scare off visitors, but before they had met the natives, both Aang and Zuko had experienced strange visions. Aang's had been of a young girl in a white dress, accompanied by a flying boar. According to the Avatar, he chased her through the swamp but could never quite catch her, and she laughed at him all the while.

Zuko's vision, however, had been a little clearer. He had envisioned an island with gray sand, where the air was so hot that it rippled in the sun. As he stood there, he heard a whisper in his ear, and he turned to see his mother there, smiling at him.

" _Come find me, Zuko_ ," she had said, her expression just the same as it had been the last night Zuko had seen her, calm and sad. " _I miss my children_."

When Zuko told Aang about the vision, the Avatar had immediately joined Zuko on his quest to find his missing mother, understanding how much her leaving had hurt him. Aang pushed his own vision aside for Zuko's sake, even though Zuko knew that Aang wondered often about the girl in his vision.

"I'm sorry," Zuko conceded, feeling ashamed of his skepticism. Based on his vision, they had managed to find his mother and bring her home. Zuko's father had seen this gesture as sufficient proof of Zuko's honor and ended his banishment, though neither of his parents explained why his mother had run off in the first place. In his embarrassment over Katara, Zuko had forgotten just how loyal Aang had been to him during that time.

"It's okay," Aang said, his sharp expression fading into a half-hearted smile. "Sometimes I think I'm putting too much meaning into it, too. I just can't let it go."

"Go with your gut," Zuko said, trying to sound supportive. "It worked for me."

"Yeah," Aang said. He made as if to say something else, but just then, they both heard footsteps approaching quickly.

Katara's voice sounded clearly through the passageway. "I really don't think you guys are thinking about how  _uncomfortable_  it is for me to be in that cell with two strange  _boys_ ," she whined loudly, clearly trying to distract the guards.

The lead pirate's response was incomprehensible, but Zuko could still hear his irritated tone. Shortly thereafter, he heard the sound of keys scraping in the hole, and the door began to open.

Before the pirate could get in position, Aang blew him back with a quick burst of air, knocking him from his feet. Katara, luckily, had predicted the attack, and managed to jump out of the way before getting crushed under the pirate's bulk. Aang leapt after the first guard, using an air bubble around his head to smother the sound of his cries for help.

As Aang struggled with the pirate, Zuko jumped out the door and tackled the second pirate before he could attack with fire, trying to wrestle the dagger out of his fist. They only had moments before the first guard got over the shock of being attacked and utilized fire, and Zuko knew that he had to act quickly. As soon as he managed possession of the dagger, Zuko twisted around and smashed the hilt sharply against the man's temple, rendering him unconscious. By that time, Aang had successfully smothered the second guard, and left the man stretched out limply on the floor.

It was over in less than thirty seconds, and the passageway was silent once more.

"Come on," Katara said urgently, keeping a look out. "We have to get off the ship."

"Weapons first," argued Zuko, gesturing away from the nearest exit. He had been on enough Water Tribe ships to know the basic layout, and there was most likely a storage area nearby that would probably be used to store weapons of prisoners. He hoped that the pirates hadn't bothered to change anything significant after taking control of this ship.

Katara looked distressed at the concept of staying longer than strictly necessary on the pirate ship, but she merely made a frustrated sigh before following Aang and Zuko down a side passageway.

It only took a minute to find the storage room, and Aang didn't bother trying to be subtle. He smashed in the door with enough force to rattle the entire ship.

"Okay," Katara said, her blue eyes wide as she stared at the shattered doorframe. "Now we  _really_  need to hurry."

Zuko shrugged at her, managing a quick grin, and he and Aang stole into the room. Their weapons were stored alongside a fair amount of other weapons, all of which were clearly Water Tribe in origin.

"I wonder," Aang said, his expression puzzled as he looked at the other weapons in question.

"If there are more prisoners on this ship?" Zuko guessed. At Aang's nod, he said, "Yeah, it seems like it."

The sound of yelling could be heard in the distance, and from the doorway, Katara hissed, "Seriously, you guys, could we  _hurry this up, please_?"

Spurred into action, Zuko and Aang quickly grabbed their respective belongings and ran back out of the room, clearly unable to spend more time on the problem. All three of them ran down the passageway, with Zuko in the lead and Aang bringing up the rear.

They made it to the top deck without encountering any pirates, but just as they made it under open skies, pirates began to appear from everywhere. Zuko managed to scare initial attacks off with a swift display of firepower, exploding short bursts of flame around their group in an effort to flash-blind his opponents, but he knew it wasn't going to be enough to keep them at bay.

True enough, almost as soon as his attack was over, Zuko had to use his swords to block all of them from an attack by the pirates, using his blades to redirect bursts of flame. Even as he moved, another set of pirates were getting into position and readying their own attack.

Zuko tensed to jump, hoping to avoid the worst of the blast, but before he could move, the ship  _itself_  tilted abruptly, as though a wave had hit it.

All of them turned to look over at Katara, who had managed to make it near the lifelines of the ship. The young woman was holding a large amount of water over her head, keeping it swirling in graceful streams around her arms. Her blue eyes were bright with energy, and the expression on her face was something Zuko could only describe as frightening.

"Now," Katara said, sounding vicious, "It's time to find out what fighting a  _waterbender_  on the  _ocean_  is like."

With that, the dark-skinned woman sent ribbons of salt water whipping toward the pirates, moving so fast that Zuko could scarcely keep track of it all. He stared for a moment, amazed at the sheer power in Katara's movements, and then jumped into the fray as well, not even trying to use fire amidst all the water in the air. Beside him, Aang was keeping the pirates away from himself as he blew on a small whistle that he had dug out of his bag. Zuko had seen the item a few times before, and he grinned – they wouldn't be fighting for long.

Sure enough, only moments later, he heard a loud roar from the sky, cutting through the battle like a hot knife through butter. He turned to see Appa swooping in on the side of the ship, low enough for them to be able to jump on if they timed it right.

"Come on!" Zuko shouted, downing one pirate and dodging away from the other. He spun away from the battle and ran toward the side of the ship, keeping his eye on Appa the whole time.

Katara followed him and he instinctively grabbed her hand, preparing to jump from the edge of the ship. He saw Aang using his airbending to jump above both of them, aiming for the far side of Appa's saddle, but just as Aang jumped off the ship, Zuko saw a thick streak of fire jet through the sky and hit him with a hideous blast.

Aang dropped like a stone, much to Zuko's horror. He and Katara had just leapt off the ship, and he only barely managed to grab onto the side of Appa's saddle in his shock. Moments later, his shoulder exploded into white-hot pain, and he had to concentrate fiercely to keep from dropping Katara, who was still holding on.

It took all of his strength to haul them up onto Appa's saddle as the flying bison rose swiftly into the sky, leaving the pirates and their ship behind. Only then did he see the cause of his pain: Katara had managed to snatch Aang out of the air as he fell, and all three of them were now collapsed painfully on Appa's back, exhausted and hurt but alive.

"He's in bad shape," Katara said desperately, looking over Aang's injuries with an experienced eye. Aang's entire left side was charred, and just under his rib cage, Zuko could see where the flame had struck directly, burning the entire area a hideous mix of black and red. The younger boy was limp in Katara's grasp, though occasionally his face would screw up with pain.

Zuko nodded, feeling his stomach curl as he looked at his injured best friend. He wasn't about to let Aang down.

"We're about five miles off of Gaoling," Zuko said, his voice low. He looked over at Katara, saying, "Can he make it?"

Katara held up her left arm, showing him a small pool of water that she still had swirling around it. "I can keep him stable until then," she said resolutely, though her wide eyes seemed to belie the sentiment.

Zuko gave her a supportive smile, responding in turn, "Then I can get us there. Or, actually – Appa can." He crawled across the saddle toward Appa's head. Once he got there, he touched the top of the air bison's head and said, "Hey buddy. Gaoling – yip yip?"

Appa swung toward the nearby shore immediately, growling in a way that even Zuko could tell was full of worry.

* * *

It turned out that Madam Lucia owned a small shop on the outskirts of town, right along the water. All along the outside of the house hung various knickknacks and strange designs that reminded Sokka of the amulet around his neck, and they gave the shop an odd, otherworldly feel. The shop itself was made of wood, and it creaked audibly in the wind.

"Are you sure about this?" asked Toph hesitatingly. She stood with Sokka just outside the shop, her hands hooked in the straps of her knapsack. The witch's shop was out of the way, tucked in a far corner of the dock. Though there were plenty of people on the docks, even at night, their location left them fairly isolated.

Sokka could understand her apprehension. An afternoon of speaking with superstitious townspeople had left both of them rather nervous about contacting the witch. Still, in the back of his mind, Sokka couldn't help but imagine himself, strong and human once again, able to fight and protect his sister.

"I'm sure," Sokka said resolutely, trying to sound confident enough to wash away Toph's uncertainties. She didn't look convinced, but she didn't argue with him, and Sokka figured he'd take his victories where he could. "C'mon," he said. "Let's go inside."

Sokka jumped up on Toph's shoulder and rode along with her as she walked up to the front door. He whispered directions to open the door, and as the door creaked open, Toph stepped toward into the dark shop.

"I can't see anything in here," Toph told him softly. Sokka could see her toes curled up on the bare wooden floor, her bare feet looking even dirtier in the dim lighting. He had hoped that the shop would be like many of the others in the Earth Kingdom, with either solid stone or bare dirt serving as a floor, but apparently the witch didn't follow the traditional customs.

The entire main room was fairly small. Its low ceilings were only exacerbated by the sheer amount of  _stuff_  that was in the room. Jars of mysterious liquid lined the walls alongside other odd trinkets and amulets, and all of the shelving was made with a heavy, dark wood that seemed to suck the lighting out of the room by its very existence. There was a table in front of them, which was clearly a place of business, and a hallway leading to a back room to their left.

To their right was a long stone bench, sitting in front of a large mural on the wall. The mural seemed strangely vivid, with silver snakes interlocking around a heavy metal cage, surrounded by a thick mess of vines. The doors to the cage were open, and the inside was covered in cobwebs and faint lines, like something had tried to claw its way out. The entire image was rather somber, and Sokka recoiled slightly before realizing that he would rather have Toph  _with_  stone in reach than without it.

"There's a stone bench to your left," he murmured to her. He was still whispering, and he couldn't tell if it was out of deference to the solemnity of the shop or just due to the creepy feeling he got from it.

Toph had just sat down on the bench when they both heard a door in the back creak open loudly, and yellow light spilled into the hallway. Sokka felt Toph's shoulders tense up at the sound, and he kept his eyes locked on the hallway.

From the back room, a woman made her way up to the main room. The candlelight behind her made it difficult to see her features, but Sokka could make out that she was a larger woman. She wore many layers of clothing, from her long skirts to her various shawls, and her hair was messy and curling around her face. When she had finally come close enough, Sokka could see that the woman was old, her face lined with thick wrinkles that she tried to hide under a mask of cakey white powder. Her eyes were lined in kohl, giving her face a sharp look that didn't mesh well with her clothing.

"What are you doing in my shop, little girl?" the woman asked coldly, one eyebrow arching as she glared irritably at Toph.

Toph made a face at the woman's attitude. In a similar tone, she snottily asked back, "Aren't you the witch?" She rolled her eyes and said, "Shouldn't you already _know_  why we're here, or whatever?"

The woman pursed her lips, staring at Toph as though she was a distasteful bug in her tea. "That's not how witchcraft works, you petulant child. Now leave my shop."

"No, wait!" Sokka cried out, desperate not to lose this opportunity just because Toph couldn't be polite.

Sokka's outburst drew the witch's attention, and suddenly, her entire demeanor seemed to change. She smiled charmingly at him, looking more like a sweet old woman than a scary proprietor.

"Ah," the woman said, her tone lightening as she spoke to Sokka. "Now I understand. What seems to be the problem here?"

"Um," Sokka began, kneading his claws on Toph's shoulder in agitation, much to the younger girl's irritation. She grumbled under her breath at him, swatting at his paws.

"Something to do with the medallion around your neck, I imagine?" the witch guessed, her lips curling in a small smile. She tilted her head at him, eyes sharp, and said, "My name is Madam Lucia, but from your friend's… charming words, I imagine you already knew that. However," she murmured, raising her eyebrows pointedly at him, "I have no knowledge of your name."

"My name is Sokka," he replied, jumping down from Toph's shoulder onto the stone bench. "This is Toph. We came here, because, well… we heard you were a witch. A while back, a sorcerer turned me into a badger-cat, and I really want to be human again. I was wondering if you could change me back."

"Oh, is that it, then?" Madam Lucia said. She leaned forward and examined Sokka's necklace, tracing the strange designs with a knowledgeable hand. Slowly, she murmured, "I suppose that I might be able to help you." Almost as an afterthought, she added, "For a small fee, of course."

"We have some money," Toph offered, thought she sounded apprehensive. Sokka looked over at his friend and saw that she was frowning, gripping her hands in her lap.

"Oh, no, dearie," Madam Lucia countered with a fluttery laugh. "Money is such a trivial thing, and it doesn't have the same power in witchcraft as it does in other places." She smiled at Sokka, her teeth flashing white in the dim lighting, and she said, "But I assure you, young Sokka, it won't cost you much at all."

Madam Lucia heaved a great sigh, as though that settled the matter. "Well," she said brightly, tucking some flyaway curls behind her eyes. "I need to grab some paper for the contract, then. It won't be but a minute."

With more speed than Sokka would have thought possible for an old woman, Madam Lucia turned and disappeared down the hallway once again, ducking into the back room.

Almost immediately, Toph hissed at Sokka, "This smells fishy. And I'm not just talking about the docks."

"She said it wouldn't cost much," Sokka whispered, doggedly hanging onto the hope of becoming human again, despite the part of his mind that was vehemently agreeing with Toph's assessment. "And we don't know anything about magic – maybe it does have to be some other kind of payment."

"I might not know anything about  _magic_ ," Toph replied, "but I do know something about  _business_. My dad's practically the best merchant in the Earth Kingdom, and he always says the most important rule of business is to  _make money_. If she's not taking cash, she's sure as hell going to take something else."

Sokka's ears went flat against his head defensively, and he stubbornly protested, "But—"

"We should go," interrupted Toph, standing up.

"No!" said Sokka, and he felt his fur begin to stand on end in his agitation. Toph paused at his insistent tone and turned toward him, her expression a mix of worry and irritation. Sokka pleaded, "This could be my  _one chance_ , Toph.  _Please_ , you said you'd help me."

Sokka wasn't sure why Toph listened to him, but after a long moment, she sat back down. Granted, she did it while sighing heartily and snarling under her breath at him, but she still settled back on the stone bench.

"Thank you," whispered Sokka, as he heard the telltale creak of the back door and prepared for the arrival of the witch.

"Just don't be  _stupid_ ," growled Toph in return, clearly still mad at him for not listening to her.

Before Sokka could reply, Madam Lucia reemerged into the main room, saying, "Sokka, please come up to the table. Toph, dear, you'll need to stay where you are – magical contracts are very particular."

Toph made a face at being referred to as "dear", but though she swore under her breath at the insult, she stayed put.

Sokka made his way to the table and climbed awkwardly up on the stool next to it. On the wooden surface, the witch had set out a long piece of parchment with paragraphs of elegant writing already written on it. The words were written in a strange font that swirled in complicated patterns, making them very difficult to discern.

Still, he tried to read the curling font. The first paragraph detailed Sokka's predicament, in that he was a badger-cat and wished to be changed back, but after that, the words grew jumbled and odd, as though the writer was speaking in a strange new language, despite the words still being recognizable.

"Oh, don't bother with the details," assured Madam Lucia, smiling comfortingly at him. She had brought a candle from the back room to light the table, and somehow in the warm light her appearance seemed less harsh. He could even smell the sweet scent of her perfume, which had been lost earlier amidst the smell of the docks.

Madam Lucia continued, "It's a simple exchange, dearie. I'll change you back to your regular form, and in exchange, you'll give me… time."

"Time?" Sokka repeated. He was starting to feel uncomfortably warm under her gaze, like when he was little and he had gotten caught doing something wrong. "You mean like, working for you?"

"Something like that, perhaps," murmured Madam Lucia vaguely. She gestured at the contract airily, saying, "I'll need some time to prepare for the ritual to change you back. I don't have the strength I once did, after all – there are a few things that only youth can achieve."

The witch was whispering, her words strange and entrancing in a way they hadn't been earlier. Sokka tried to concentrate on Toph's advice, looking for a way that this was a bad deal, but even though his instincts were feeling wary, his mind was growing fuzzy. The witch's perfume seemed to clog his senses, making him unable to think straight.

"I can't work for you right away," Sokka heard himself saying, even as the witch pulled out a strange quill with a clear, sharp ending point. He added, "I have to save my sister. She's waiting for me."

It was hard to focus on anything but the witch's smile and her sharp eyes, even though he tried. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he thought he heard Toph saying something, but it was lost in a haze of sweet warmth.

"That's fine, Sokka," murmured Madam Lucia, holding the quill out. "I already told you: this deal won't cost  _you_  much time at all."

Sokka held out one of his paws, feeling a jolt of pain as the witch cut the end of the quill into its pad. He stared blankly at the blood welling up on the underside of his paw, and suddenly he registered the way the witch had put a slight emphasis on the word "you".

"Wait," he said, shaking his head to clear his mind of the haze. "Wait, what do you—"

But it was too late. A couple droplets of Sokka's blood dripped on the contract, melting swiftly into the thick parchment, and Sokka abruptly felt like all the air had left the room.

"It's finished," hissed the witch in satisfaction.

Behind him, Toph shrieked.

Sokka whirled around to see the mural on the wall had come to life somehow. The silver snakes that were slithering around the metal cage were now reaching out of the wall, wrapping around Toph's arms and legs and tearing her away from the stone bench. The young woman struggled, but separated from her element, she was no match for the large snakes, which dragged her  _into_  the picture, throwing her into the cage.

As Sokka watched, horrified, the door of the cage slammed shut. Instantly, the mural was still again, as though it had never come to life in the first place.

A shock of cold ran down Sokka's spine as he realized what had just happened, and he whirled on the witch, snarling, "What  _did you do_?"

Before he could lunge for the woman's eyes, however, she slammed a cage down on him, trapping him on the wooden table. He struggled and hissed, but this cage was heavy and made of metal, and he didn't even make a scratch.

Outside the cage, Madam Lucia smiled coldly, laughing darkly at his predicament. "Don't worry, darling," she cooed at him, ignoring his hissing. "I promise I'll change you back to human soon enough. As soon as I steal the youth from your little girlfriend, I'll have more than enough power to help you out." She giggled once, as though thinking of a joke, and added, "Of course, she'll be dead, but that's just business, isn't it?"

With that, she left the room in a breeze of perfume, which now smelled sickly sweet to Sokka's nose, making him feel nauseous. Or maybe that was just the guilt rearing its ugly head, as he realized that he had just unwittingly sold his new friend and protector.

Sokka stared in horror at the motionless mural on the wall, shaking from the sheer amount of pain and guilt that was now tearing through his body. There was no way out of this. Toph was gone.

Toph was trapped, and it was all Sokka's fault.


	6. Dig (A Little Deeper)

CHAPTER 6: DIG (A LITTLE DEEPER)

" _You gotta dig a little deeper_

_Find out who you are_

_You gotta dig a little deeper_

_It really ain't that far._

_When you find out who you are,_

_You find out what you need._

_Blue skies and sunshine, guaranteed."_

 

 

Toph didn't know exactly how she had come to be trapped in a metal box, but she knew one thing for sure: she was  _pissed_.

"Let me  _out_!" she screamed, pounding on the thick walls. "Hey! You  _stupid witch_ , let me out of here! You  _stupid, ugly—"_

From there, she descended into a long stretch of curse words that would have made some of her opponents at the Earth Rumbles wipe away tears of pride.

Finally Toph realized that no amount of screaming was going to get the cage opened, and she leaned against the back with a snarl. She could feel a light breeze coming in from  _somewhere_ , but the metal cell was tall and narrow, and Toph had always been on the shorter side. Still, from the smells and sounds accompanying the air, Toph presumed she was still by the docks. In fact, due to the clarity of the sound, Toph guessed that she was outside.  _How_  she was outside was another concern entirely, and Toph had no idea how to answer that one.

The entire situation was  _utterly_  confusing. The last thing Toph could remember, she had been sitting on the stone bench, waiting for Sokka to finish up his contract with Madam Lucia. The two had been speaking low enough that Toph wasn't able to hear much of what was going on, but she remembered the moment she realized something was wrong: when the scent of incense cutting through the fishy smell of the docks hit her nose, Toph abruptly felt that the whole thing was a trap.

She had said something to Sokka, but it was too late, and before Toph knew it, she had been pulled backward…  _into the wall_ , she thought, but she had no idea how that could be possible. In any case, by the time she made sense of her surroundings again, Toph was stuck outside in the metal cage.

"This is  _so stupid_ ," grumbled Toph, resisting the urge to pound her head against the side of the prison.

She had  _told_  Sokka this was a dumb idea. Toph distinctly recalled being very clear on the matter, but the man-turned-badger-cat had argued against her concerns. And Toph was mad about that, but mainly she was upset with herself. She should have insisted, especially after her discomfort didn't go away. She should have trusted her instincts.

But she could still hear Sokka's pleading tone saying, " _Please, you said you'd help me,"_  and Toph knew that she had given into her own insecurities. She had never had a real friend before, and the more time she spent with Sokka, the more she realized that she _really_  wanted to keep him as one. Sokka was funny and smart, and he didn't seem to care that she hated fancy dresses. She had never known how  _nice_  it was to talk to someone on an equal level.

So when Sokka had asked her to support him, Toph did it, even when she  _knew_  that trusting the witch was a bad idea. And it was all because she couldn't get over her fear of being friendless again.

"And now you're stuck in a cage," Toph muttered to herself. "That's just great. This is what you get for trying to impress people."

One thing Toph knew: if she managed to get out of this predicament, Sokka was going to get an earful. And that would only be _after_  he regained consciousness from the beat-down she was going to give him.

As it was, Toph was still trapped in a metal cage, and no amount of yelling seemed to draw any attention. It made sense, when Toph thought about it. Madam Lucia's shop had been at the far end of the docks, and the buildings surrounding it had been mostly made of stone. In all likelihood, the aforementioned buildings were probably used for storage anyway, which would explain the lack of traffic on this end of the docks.

Unfortunately, this severely limited Toph's options. In fact, she was pretty sure she had one option: sit and wait patiently to be rescued.

If there was one thing Toph understood about herself, it was that she was not particularly well suited to waiting patiently. Oh, she could do it – she had roughly sixteen years of practice going for her – but it was not something that Toph enjoyed doing.

The very thought of waiting around in this tiny cage made Toph's blood boil, especially considering that the person to free her would probably be the witch.

" _Ugh_!" Toph snarled, stomping her bare foot down on the cold metal, unable to give voice to her frustrations.

In that moment, Toph suddenly realized that she could see the dimensions of the metal cage, as well as a few feet of the dirt outside. The vibrations soon settled, leaving Toph blind again, but the single second of clarity was like a slap in the face. She had been able to  _see_.

Toph was not a particularly smart person when it came to her studies, as most of her tutors would attest to. She was not good at rote memorization, and by and large, most of the subjects that her teachers wanted her to learn bored her to tears. By the time she was ten, Toph had figured out that she was not going to become an academic.

When it came to earthbending, however, Toph could make leaps of ingenuity with barely any thought required. Earthbending had always come so naturally to Toph that sometimes she wasn't sure whether or not breathing was easier.

So when Toph discovered that she could feel vibrations from the metal cage, making the next logical leap wasn't  _difficult_  so much as it was  _obvious_. Metal was made from earth. Therefore, if one was able to manipulate earth, then bending metal was  _also_ possible.

And it might be challenging, but Toph wasn't the best earthbender in the world for no reason. Toph grinned and extended her hands out, shifting naturally into an earthbending stance.

"Okay, Toph," she encouraged herself, enjoying the sound of her own voice amidst what she now understood was her element. "Let's do this."

* * *

By the time they made it to a relatively secure shelter, midday had passed, though the sun still beat down upon the beaches. Appa had taken them to a remote location just barely inland of the ocean, so while Katara felt reasonably hidden from view, she still couldn't shake the fear that it wouldn't be enough.

Being held captive on a pirate ship for a month apparently affected one's ability to trust, Katara noted distantly.

She didn't have much time to voice her concerns to Zuko, who was hovering over Aang with an almost frightening intensity. Since they had escaped the pirate ship on Appa, Katara had been focusing nearly all of her energy on making sure that the young man wasn't going to die from his injuries. Once they had landed and gotten reasonably situated in a shallow alcove, Katara had stayed behind to monitor while Zuko ran around filling every container Appa carried with water.

"It's a good thing you guys came prepared," Katara commented, able to assist Aang much easier now that she had more water to work with. The young man moaned softly under her hands, clearly still in pain. His brow furrowed and he shifted as if to move away from her, but he didn't wake.

"It's all Aang," Zuko replied, his voice tense. His eyes were shadowed in the dim light of the cave as he continued, "He made all the preparations for the trip. I didn't even know we were going to be investigating the pirates."

"You make it sound like he just invited you along for a lark," commented Katara, raising an eyebrow.

"Well," murmured Zuko. "Yeah, that's kind of what he did."

"And you just came along for the hell of it?"

"You have to understand," replied Zuko, sounding tired. "Aang has this way with people. When he asks you to do something, you can argue with him, but in the end, you do it anyway, because… well, because he asked."

Katara looked down at the injured boy on the floor of the cave, intrigued. She had seen airbenders before, of course; they weren't exactly common in the Southern Water Tribe, but they had a temple nearby. Whenever Katara had gone on trips with her father and brother, they had passed by the temple and often stopped in port. In fact, she had known that the Avatar was from the Southern Air Temple, but Aang had never been there when they visited. She vaguely remembered the monks at the temple telling her brother that the Avatar was off training.

Katara had certainly never expected to meet the Avatar under this set of circumstances. She had never been so grateful that she had crumbled under her Gran-Gran's pressure to train in the womanly arts of waterbending before attempting the more traditional fighting style that the men preferred; she knew that her natural healing skills wouldn't have been nearly enough to help Aang if she hadn't.

It took about a half an hour to heal Aang's burns to a satisfactory degree. Katara sat back on her heels and surveyed her handiwork, heaving a sigh of exhaustion. She'd have to do a second batch of healing tomorrow, but barring infection, Katara thought that he'd pull through just fine. Spirits willing, he wouldn't even have a scar.

"Is he looking okay?"

Katara looked up at Zuko, who had managed to set up camp in the time it took Katara to heal Aang. He had blankets laid out in the corner alongside a pair of knapsacks and their weapons. In the opposite corner, he had started a small fire.

_Speaking of scars_ , Katara thought, before she forcefully stopped herself from staring at the burn scar on the side of Zuko's face.

The older boy caught her staring, and he blinked at her, eyes wary. After a moment, he asked, "He won't scar, will he?"

If there was a way for Katara to feel  _more_  like a terrible person, she didn't want to hear it. Her face flushing from embarrassment, Katara replied, "N-no, he shouldn't. If we can keep his injuries from getting infected, they should heal fine."

She didn't know why she had suddenly been struck by the urge to ask about Zuko's scar. On the pirate ship, it hadn't seemed like such a big deal; Katara had been so thrilled to see other people that she hadn't even registered that it was a burn mark. And as soon as they implemented their plan, she had been so busy escaping that there hadn't been time to care.

But now that they were hiding out in the cave, Katara couldn't help but be curious. Something about the older boy was  _mysterious_. Granted, she had only known him for a day, but Katara was used to dealing with men who wore their hearts on their sleeves. Most of the men she knew were relatives and friends from the Southern Water Tribe, all of whom had known her since she was a baby. Even Aang seemed pretty straightforward, for all that he was the Avatar, and Katara hadn't known him long either.

Zuko was different, all dark and shadowy where she had expected light and color. Katara couldn't explain her interest, but she knew that it would be incredibly rude to ask about the injury when she hadn't even known Zuko for a full day.

_I am so obnoxious_ , Katara thought to herself, mentally cringing away from her own morbid curiosities.

"I was thinking," Zuko said, interrupting her self-flagellation. "We should play a game."

Katara looked up, surprised. The older boy was sitting cross-legged on one of the blankets, watching her. He was sorting out some of the food from the packs, clearly getting ready to make something to eat.

"A… game," Katara repeated skeptically.

"Yeah," Zuko said. "Aang made me play it with him when we first met. I figure since we're stuck here, we might as well pass the time."

Katara looked down at Aang, who seemed to be resting comfortably on his own set of blankets. Occasionally, the younger boy would shift in his sleep, face twisting in pain, but other that that, he was calm and his breathing was steady.

"What kind of game?" Katara asked.

Zuko looked up from his food preparation and gave her a small smile, which looked somewhat out of place on his taciturn face. "It's a questions game," he explained, going back to his task. "Anything goes. The only rule is, for every question you ask me, I get to ask one in return. And you have to answer."

Katara blinked in surprise. "Aang taught you this game?" was the first thing she thought of to say.

Zuko grinned. "I'm telling you, he's a persuasive kid." Then, after a pause, he added, "And I wasn't the best at communicating when we met."

"Oh," murmured Katara in response.

A moment of silence lasted between them, filled with the sound of Zuko cutting vegetables. Without being asked, Katara took the initiative to start heating some water in a pot over the fire.

Before the atmosphere grew awkward, Zuko cleared his throat and then said, "I'll start. Where'd you get that necklace?"

"My necklace?" Katara asked, blinking in shock. She hadn't expected him to ask about something so small, but as she fingered the familiar stone, Katara figured it made sense to ping on something obvious. "It was my mother's. She died when my brother and I were little, and I've been wearing it ever since."

The memory of her mother's death still made Katara's heart ache, but through force of habit, she smothered the images away. She had been caught in a sudden blizzard, something that was all too common in the icy south, but it didn't make it any easier to think about.

"Oh," Zuko murmured. He didn't say anything else.

After a few moments, the older boy looked up at her. His amber eyes glittered like flames in the firelight, and he said, "It's your turn."

"Um," Katara said, shifting awkwardly. "I can't think of anything."

Zuko raised an eyebrow at her, his expression guarded. "I'm pretty sure I know what you want to ask, so you might as well get it over with."

Katara could sense the dare in his tone, just like when she and Sokka were little and he would tease her about not being able to waterbend right. In the light of the fire, Katara could see Zuko's scar clearly, and she could tell it had to be the result of some kind of firebending accident.

Perhaps it was the fact that he  _dared_  her to ask (even if he did it politely), but Katara suddenly didn't want to find out. Not through some silly question game.

Instead, she gave him an imperious look, saying, "I have no idea what you're talking about." At his skeptical stare, she continued, "I want to know how you and Aang met. Since when does the Avatar train with anyone but bending masters?"

"I already told you," Zuko said, looking confused. "He trained with my uncle."

"Aang said you two trained together."

"Well, I  _also_  happen to be a firebender," Zuko replied, his voice deadpan.

"Still," Katara said, "That doesn't explain how you managed to become such good friends with the Avatar. So how did you two meet?"

Zuko gave her a surprised look, but then frowned, eyes angled upward in an effort to remember. He smiled faintly, and then said, "My uncle and I were traveling down by Kuruk's Strait – you know, between the Water Tribe Territories and the Southern Air Temple. There was a bad storm, but we were on a ship and couldn't steady the course back to the Water Tribe territories like we wanted to. So the whole crew was working to keep the ship afloat, but I – ah, well, I had gotten injured earlier, so I wasn't in the best condition to help out."

Katara nodded, grinning at the abashed expression on Zuko's face.

"Anyway," he continued, "I was standing watch – just to feel like I was doing  _something_ , you know – and I suddenly saw a boy fall from the sky into the water. It seemed like he came out of nowhere, but before I knew it, I was diving into the water to rescue him."

Zuko laughed lightly, clearly remembering the scene, and said, "My uncle was  _so_  mad. Diving out in the middle of a storm, with absolutely no backup? It was crazy." He shook his head, and then went on, "But at the time, it was just instinct."

"Diving into the water during a storm in the  _Kuruk Strait_?" Katara repeated, eyes wide. "I'm going to have to agree with your uncle on this one."

"Yeah," Zuko accepted, grinning at her. "It really was nuts. By the time I got there, I was practically drowned myself. I managed to reach out a hand to grab him, but getting back up to the surface was nearly impossible." Zuko looked down at Aang, who was still motionless on the cave floor, and he continued, "But just as I was about to give up, the kid suddenly started glowing bright blue. I could barely see anything, but I can still remember him clearly – warm and bright, like a spirit. Then  _he_  grabbed  _me_ , and we both flew up into the sky."

"Back into the storm?" Katara asked, finding herself enthralled by this story.

"Not for long," Zuko said. "Aang did something – I don't know what he did, but the storm abruptly stopped. Just… faded away into nothing. Then Appa showed up out of nowhere, and suddenly, I was sitting soaking wet on his back with Aang lying unconscious in my lap." He smiled fondly, adding, "You have  _no idea_  how weird it was when he finally woke up."

"I can imagine," Katara murmured. She glanced down at Aang, grinning at the tale, and then furrowed her brow, puzzled by a detail. Returning her gaze to Zuko, she asked, "But why was he flying out in a storm in the first place? That's so dangerous. Every Airbender should know that."

Zuko returned her stare with a level expression, revealing nothing. For a moment, silence settled between them, and Katara felt like she was being examined, somehow. It was a strange sort of intensity, as though she was sitting by a fire that suddenly came too close, and she resisted the urge to back away.

Then Zuko gave her a half-smile and looked away, busying his hands with the food preparations. "I suppose that's something you'll have to ask him," he replied simply, his tone making it clear that he wasn't going to elaborate.

Katara bit back her initial urge to argue. She was really curious about the whole story, but Zuko didn't seem like the type to share information haphazardly, particularly when it revolved around other people.

So instead of pushing, Katara changed the subject.

"The water's ready," she announced, cutting through the unspoken tension.

Zuko looked over at the pot, saying, "Oh, good. I'm practically starved."

They finished making the meal in amiable silence, all thought of the questions game left behind them. Once they had eaten, Zuko doused the fire for safety, though the cave was thankfully small enough to retain much of the warmth. It wasn't long afterward that Katara fell asleep beside Aang, with Zuko keeping watch over both of them.

* * *

Sokka didn't know how long he stayed in the cage, staring forlornly at the far wall, but it was soon nearly too dark to see, even for his heightened senses.

The witch had been puttering about for most of the evening, preparing for the ritual tomorrow, but now the shop was still, and even the dim light from the back room was gone. Despite his best efforts at shielding himself, the cold air from the ocean kept creeping in the building, leaving Sokka curled up and shivering in his metal cage. His fur wasn't doing a thing to help him resist it.

Honestly, Sokka didn't even want to resist the dismal conditions. Guilt was eating away at his mind. Toph was trapped because of his horrible decision. He couldn't stop hearing the sound of her screaming in fear or picturing the way the snakes wrapped around her, dragging her back into the metal cage in the mural. The memory kept repeating itself in his head, cementing his feelings of utter failure.

She had come along to help him find his sister, and had asked for nothing in return. Sokka knew that she had to have  _some_  kind of reason – no one just ran away from home on a crazy mission because it sounded nice – but she didn't seem to want anything from him other than friendship.

_And look how you reward her_ , thought Sokka bitterly. Toph had known the witch was bad news. She knew it the moment they had gotten to the shop, and she had  _told_  him as much. But instead of listening to her warnings like a real friend would have, Sokka ignored her, as though her safety was somehow less important than his vanity. Now they were both trapped, and soon, Toph would be the one to pay for his mistake.

Sokka was pretty sure that he had never before felt like such a reprehensible human being.

Just as he was putting the finishing touches on his guilt trip, Sokka heard a loud creak outside the door. The wind off the ocean had been making the shop shift and settle all evening, but this noise was much more distinct.

Sokka sat up in alarm, warily eyeing the door. The moonlight from the window lit up just enough of the shop that Sokka could see the door. Most of the doors in the Earth Kingdom were made of either wood or metal, to deter robbers, and this door was no exception. Despite the fact that the shop itself was made of ramshackle wood, the door was a solid metal fixture. The witch had locked it herself just before heading to the back room, laughing to Sokka about "keeping him safe."

This knowledge made it very surprising when the door suddenly opened.

Sokka stared in surprise, seeing a dark form standing in the doorframe. The figure hesitated in the doorway, as though now that they had the door open, they didn't quite know what to do.

Sokka, for all that he was not a fan of Mysterious Dark Figures, was not about to let this opportunity slip away.

"Hey," he whispered, his voice cutting through the silence of the night just as readily as the creak outside had. "Hey, you—"

"Sokka?" the figured hissed back, her voice high and somewhat tremulous.

He blinked in surprise, staring with wide eyes at the shadowed figure. " _Toph_?"

Now that Toph knew where Sokka was, she walked across the wooden floor of the shop and made it to the table. Despite the darkness of the shop, Sokka was able to make out her familiar features. She looked even paler in the blackness, and her eyes almost seemed to shine in contrast to her dark hair, which seemed even more mussed than before.

"I'm right here," he whispered, using his voice to direct her actions. As Toph groped toward his metal cage, he couldn't help himself. He said, "Toph, you were right, I'm so sorry—"

"Yeah, yeah, you're stupid," Toph muttered back, cutting him off mid-apology. "I'll make you pay for it later, I promise. Are you in a  _cage_?" Her hands found the thick metal frame of his new prison.

"Yeah," Sokka replied. "It's been a great night." Then a thought occurred to him, and Sokka asked, "Wait, how did you get free? You were – I mean, I  _saw_  you go into the mural on the wall! You were in a cage, too! Or…  _something_!" It was hard to keep his voice low when he was having a panic attack, but Sokka managed to keep all of his freaking out in whisper form.

Toph shrugged, feeling around the metal bars with a frown on her face. "I honestly have no idea what happened with all that 'magic' crap, but I was in a metal cage outside. It took me  _forever_  to figure out how to get out."

"How in the world did you get out of a metal cage?" Sokka asked, incredulous.

Toph grinned, and without another word, she gripped two of the bars of his cage in her hands. Brow furrowing in concentration, she jerked her arms sharply. The aforementioned bars twisted aside, as if Toph was pulling taffy instead of metal, and when she was finished, the cage was distorted enough to create a large hole in its side.

"Like that," Toph answered proudly, looking immensely satisfied with her work.

Sokka stared at the newly formed exit, mystified. He exclaimed, "You can  _metalbend_?"

"I'm the greatest earthbender in the  _world_ ," replied Toph, her voice falling just short of pompous. She paused a moment, and then added, "And okay, I kind of just figured it out. But it's  _cool_ , right?"

"That's possibly the coolest thing I've ever seen," Sokka said honestly, staring at her handiwork.

"Sweet," Toph said, clearly pleased with herself. "Come on," she urged him, holding out her arm. "We have to get out of here before the witch realizes what's going on."

Sokka looked over at the dark hallway, feeling panicked at the idea of the witch attacking, but it was still silent. Somehow, they had managed to keep their escape relatively quiet. He scrambled out of the cage and onto Toph's shoulders. He couldn't quite express the sheer amount of relief that her presence gave him, but in that moment, Sokka felt like he would gladly be a badger-cat for the rest of his life, if only Toph would let him stay on her shoulders.

As if reading his mind, once they were out of the shop and running away, Toph said to him, "By the way, once we have the time, you are  _so_  going to pay for not listening to me."

"As long as you're not a witch, I'm fine with that," replied Sokka, clinging to her tunic. The night air was cold against his face, but as he and Toph ran swiftly away from the witch's shop, Sokka felt more comfortable than he had in ages.

* * *

_She was laughing at him._

" _No, wait," Aang whispered, but he knew she wouldn't listen. She never did._

_The girl turned, and he saw her like he never had before. She had grown taller and womanly, and for the first time, Aang caught a glimpse of her eyes, which were the color of green apples that had been bleached white by the sun. They stood out dramatically in contrast with her ebony hair._

_She was no longer laughing._

" _What's taking you so long?" she asked indignantly, her voice echoing through the trees. Beside her, the flying boar flapped angrily. She had never spoken before. Even though Aang could tell that she was blind, he still felt like she was staring him down._

" _I—," Aang began, voice cracking._

_She waved her hand as she rolled her eyes, and Aang was buried under a wave of earth._

"Wait!" Aang shouted, eyes flying open. He tried to sit up, but a sharp jolt of pain shot through his side, making him gasp.

Not a second later, a hand covered his mouth, and he heard a female voice hiss, "Shh, Aang, you can't shout. You have to be quiet."

For a moment, Aang couldn't place the voice, feeling as though part of him was still dreaming. Soon the feeling diminished, and he remembered the pirates. From the dull ache in his side, Aang figured that one of the pirates had managed to hit him.

"Katara?" he asked, keeping his voice low.

"Yeah," she murmured back. By this time, Aang's eyes had adjusted to the darkness, and he could see her leaning over him, looking concerned. She had tamed her hair by braiding its curly mass into a single length, making her look younger than she had in the brig. Aang had been right: she  _was_  very pretty, especially since she had the darker features of the Water Tribe working for her.

She smiled at him, asking, "Are you feeling okay? I healed your burns as much as I could last night, but they still need more treatment before they're completely fixed."

"It only hurts when I move," Aang answered, replying to her grin with one of his own. He looked around their campsite, noting the rocky features of the ceiling overhead, and he asked, "Are we hiding in a cave?"

"We could only run so far before we had to stop for me to heal you," Katara said, nodding. "Zuko took first watch, but he's sleeping now. We're just outside of Gaoling, along the coast. It's not as secure as I'd like, but Zuko seems okay with it." She shrugged, adding, "Maybe once you're healed up, you can do some earthbending to make it more hidden or something."

Without waiting for a response, Katara sat back on her heels, reaching behind her for a pail. She brought it forth, saying, "Speaking of healing, I'm rested enough that I can do the second batch now."

"Okay," Aang agreed, watching tiredly as she pulled a trail of water from the container and wrapped it around her hands. He had studied a fair amount of healing during his studies as a waterbender, but he had never been particularly adept at it. It required a lot of precision work, and while Aang could do it, if needed, he tended to prefer to bend on a larger scale.

As it was, he had been healed with waterbending many times, so he was comfortable as Katara laid her hands on his side. The familiar warmth of waterbending healing tingled on his skin. It hurt in a wave of tiny pricks, which reminded Aang of nothing so much as when he got his master airbender tattoos.

Forcefully ignoring the steady wave of healing pain, Aang murmured, "I can't actually help with securing the cave, y'know."

"Really?" Katara asked, though she kept her eyes steady on his wound. "Why not?"

"I still don't know how to earthbend," Aang admitted. It wasn't something he liked to talk about, usually. Most of the time, people acted shocked that the Avatar still didn't know how to bend all of the elements perfectly, as though they didn't realize that he had to study just like everyone else. A darker side of his mind also considered that people would try to take advantage of his inability, and he didn't relish the idea of giving his opponents such information.

Katara, like most people he had told, seemed surprised. "You haven't studied any earthbending at all?"

"I've tried," Aang told her. "I just can't find the right teacher."

With a flourish of her wrist, Katara pulled the water away from Aang's side, finishing up the healing session. As Aang sat up, gingerly testing out his capabilities, Katara said encouragingly, "Maybe it just isn't the right time. I mean, have you completely mastered all the other elements?"

"I've mastered airbending," Aang replied honestly. His side still twinged, but he could sit up without gasping, so he took that as a victory. He glanced over to the back of the cave, where Zuko was sleeping in a heap by the remains of a fire, continuing, "And I'm pretty good at waterbending. My firebending is decent, but not outstanding, so it's not like I don't have stuff to work on. I just…"

"You want to find your teacher," Katara finished for him.

Aang turned to look back at her, pleased that she understood what he was saying. He gave her a small smile, saying, "Yeah, I just—" A shadow caught his eye as he looked at the entrance to the cage, and he shouted, "Katara, look out!"

Katara looked back, eyes wide, but it was too late. She jerked back, falling onto her elbows, and Aang saw a black-feathered dart sticking out of her neck. Without thinking of it, he whipped a ball of air in his hands, adrenaline shooting through his veins.

Unfortunately, just as he was about to throw the air blast at their assailant, Aang felt a sharp prick in his neck and his vision went abruptly blurry. He struggled to fight off the drug, but it swept through his already weakened body like a wave crashing onto the beach. The edges of his vision tinted black. The last thing Aang knew, he was falling beside Katara, feeling like he was being buried beneath the earth again, except this time, it wasn't a dream.

* * *

Toph didn't stop running until she made it off the docks. They were still in the middle of Gaoling, but since it was nighttime, there weren't many people milling about, and Toph knew she'd rather be on solid ground than on the wooden docks if the witch came after them.

Sokka was being oddly quiet on her shoulders, and even though Toph wasn't particularly adept at being empathetic, she knew that he was stewing over his mistake back at the witch's shop. She thought about yelling at him – they were safe from the witch now, and she was definitely still irritated by the whole situation – but in the end, she decided against it. The entire ordeal had been exhausting, and the thought of rehashing it only served to make her feel more tired.

"You don't have to be all quiet," she said instead. "I don't feel like fighting."

Sokka shifted on her shoulders, like he was looking at her. After a pause, he said, "I wouldn't fight you. I probably deserve whatever you have to say."

"Well, I don't feel like saying it," Toph said resolutely. "And I don't want to have to listen to you wallow in guilt, so… talk about something else."

"Like what?"

"I don't know," admitted Toph. "You always seemed to have something to talk about before."

After a moment's breath, Sokka murmured, "Well, I have been wondering about that stupid contract I signed. Do you think it's binding? I mean, what if the witch comes after us with magic or something?"

Toph considered the notion, and then said, "I'm not sure how magic works, but I'm pretty sure she broke the law to get you to sign it. I  _know_  I smelled some kind of incense, and it was strong enough to make me feel dizzy. I bet she drugged you to get you to sign it, and that's definitely against the law."

"Here's hoping a witch that uses black magic cares about the law," muttered Sokka, not sounding particularly hopeful. Then he sighed, saying, "I guess worrying about it isn't going to do anything to help."

"Probably not," agreed Toph, turning onto a main street. She was keeping to the side of the street, trying to keep as much of a low profile as she could.

For a long moment, they walked on in silence. Toph was listening to the city with her feet. On the far side of the docks, she could feel the red light district still active with people, and when she tried, she could hear the sounds of raucous noise echoing from the area. She and Sokka were in the business district now. She was less familiar with this area of Gaoling, even though her father worked here. The Earth Rumbles all took place at night on the other side of the city, closer to the red light district; for all that Toph avoided the latter like the plague. She had to concentrate harder to find her way through the business district, unsure of where she needed to go to find a good campsite.

"Hey, can I ask you a question?" Sokka suddenly asked, voice low in her ear.

"Sure, I guess."

"Why did you come with me?" he asked. Toph stiffened in surprise, and Sokka seemed to take her reaction as encouragement, because he went on, "I know you said it was about getting back at the bandits, and don't get me wrong, I  _really_  appreciate that you're willing to stick by me, but… there has to be another reason."

Toph considered denying this claim. She could feel excuses clamoring in her head, each one more defensive than the rest, but Sokka's voice was honest and curious. A part of her rejected all of her preconceived responses, whispering that Toph would never have a real friend if she couldn't be honest with him.

With that thought in mind, Toph admitted, "I wasn't entirely honest with you before."

"What do you mean?" Sokka asked.

"When I told you that I wanted to help you find your sister," Toph said. Then, before he could get the wrong impression, she corrected, "Not that I don't want to help you. I do. But the real reason I came with you is because, well… because I wanted to run away from home. You just gave me an excuse, honestly."

Sokka was quiet as he considered this new information, and he posed the question, "Why did you want to run away?"

A pang of anger burned in her stomach as Toph remembered that night, and she hotly answered, "My parents decided to marry me off to some random rich  _moron_ , and they didn't even bother to ask me what  _I_  thought. They only see me as this helpless blind girl, so  _of course_  I couldn't have any  _opinion_  about the matter!"

Her voice echoed loudly in the empty streets, and Toph fell silent, her cheeks burning in rage. She hadn't meant to be so loud, but she hadn't gotten the chance to get properly angry before, back when she had first found out. Now that Sokka was letting her, she felt the need to scream her outrage to the heavens, but she managed to contain it to a single furious outburst.

She hated the way her anger made her eyes burn with tears, and she ducked her head to keep them from falling. She buried her toes in the dirt under her feet, letting the steady throb of the earth calm her.

"Oh," Sokka said after a moment, and then he said, "I would have run away too. That's awful."

This simple response – blanket support and understanding, without any implication that he was going to tell her that she was being _selfish_  and  _naïve_  – was something that Toph didn't realize she needed to hear until it was said. Just the knowledge that  _someone_ out there understood was enough to quell Toph's endless anger, taming it until it wasn't pressing against her consciousness so strongly anymore. She felt a knot in her throat as she tried to stop her tears, but one escaped anyway.

"Not that I care why you decided to come with me," Sokka continued obliviously, either not noticing her state or choosing to ignore it. "I mean, in the end, I'd like to have you helping me even if you were a part of a plot to take over the world, or something like that."

Toph snickered, but just as she did so, she felt something weird on the earth. She paused, even as Sokka continued making jokes on her shoulder, and she concentrated on the feeling. It had been a single person jumping to the ground, where a person  _hadn't_ been only moments earlier.

"Sokka, be quiet," she instructed quietly, trying to pinpoint the source.

"What's going on?" asked Sokka, his claws tightening in her shoulder from anxiety.

"There's someone—" Toph began, but she wasn't able to finish her sentence. She suddenly felt a sharp pain in her neck, making her stagger backwards. Sokka jumped from her shoulder in alarm, and Toph managed to keep her balance, but only barely.

"Toph!" Sokka said.

Her vision was swimming under her feet. Already, the vibrations were becoming blurry, but she could feel more people jumping onto the ground now, heading toward them. She tried to earthbend at them, but when she shifted her stance, she tripped and fell to her knees.

"Toph!" called Sokka again, voice pitched high in worry. His voice was warped, like she was underwater, and she could hardly tell where it was coming from.

Before she could call back, the earth went still beneath her and she slumped, feeling like she was slipping through quicksand.


	7. Friends (On the Other Side)

CHAPTER 7: FRIENDS (ON THE OTHER SIDE)

" _I got voodoo,_

_I got hoodoo,_

_I got things I ain't even tried._

_And I got friends on the other side."_

 

When Zuko woke up to the feeling of metal under his cheek and the smell of salt in the air, he couldn't help but jump to the worst possible conclusion.

"Ugh," he groaned, his head feeling oddly heavy. "Not  _this_  shit again."

"Yep," came Aang's response, sounding equally bitter. "The pirates found us."

With effort, Zuko managed to sit up. His head began to clear itself out as he rubbed sleep out of his eyes, and he realized that they were in the exact same brig as before. Katara was sitting next to him, looking nearly as groggy as he felt, and Aang was propped up against the far wall. Interestingly, crumpled in the corner adjacent to Aang was another girl, who was curled up facing the wall.

"Uh, who is that?" Zuko asked.

"We don't know," Katara answered. "She hasn't woken up yet."

"Based on her clothes," added Aang, "I think the pirates found their missing earthbender."

Zuko considered this new information before finally concluding, "Well, this sucks."

The girl in the corner chose that moment to wake up, and after a few moments of confused muttering, she grumbled a complaint that had more swear words than Zuko even knew existed. Her dark hair masked her face, hiding it behind a curtain of long, tiny braids. A yellow ribbon hung doggedly onto the mass of hair, but clearly her kidnapping had loosened its hold.

"—stupid  _assholes_  with their spirits-be-damned  _drugs_ ," finished their new cellmate, punching the metal flooring of the cell.

"Um," Katara began, sounding concerned. "Are you feeling okay?"

For the first time, the girl turned to look at them, sitting back on her heels. She had a round, pretty face, though it was partly concealed by her messy bangs. More startling, however, were her eyes: they were pale green and glossed over in white. From the way she didn't focus on any of them, Zuko could tell that she was blind.

In the corner, Aang was staring at her with wide eyes, unmoving.

"Who are you guys?" asked the girl, scowling. She looked fairly young, though perhaps she was just small for her age. Based on the way she held herself, Zuko got the distinct impression that she was some kind of nobility. This was mainly because of the way she seemed to remind him of a younger Azula, though admittedly one with a fouler mouth.

"We're your fellow prisoners, I think," answered Katara, her tone gentle. "I'm Katara, and this is Zuko. And—"

"I'm Aang," said the boy in question, interrupting Katara abruptly. Zuko raised his eyebrows, confused by how excited Aang seemed to be about their new cellmate. Aang jumped up and walked over to her, crouching to help her stand up, and he asked, "What's your name?"

Spirits, he sounded  _flustered_. Zuko and Katara exchanged puzzled glances, and then turned to regard the scene again.

"I'm Toph," replied the girl, giving Aang a perturbed look. She shook his hand away from her arm, muttering, "Leave me alone, I can get up just fine." Aang jumped away like he'd been burned, but his expression of awe never changed.

She clamored to her feet and brushed off her traveling outfit, which was rather plain despite her regal bearing. She was a petite girl; now that they both were standing, Zuko could see that Aang was a head taller than her. Having sorted her clothing out, Toph took the time to fix her hair, which had become horribly tangled.

"So, where are we, exactly?" Toph asked. A moment later, she added, "Did the bandits grab you guys, too?"

Zuko stood up as well, with Katara joining him a moment later. He replied, "We're on a pirate ship, actually."

"Well, that's new," Toph said dryly.

"It gets worse," Aang said, finally seeming to break out of his Toph-inspired silence. "Or at least, it might. This might be weird, but… are you an earthbender?"

Toph raised her eyebrows in surprise. Then she answered, "Actually, yeah, I am. Why?"

Collectively, the three of them took turns telling Toph about the pirates' stolen scroll and their apparent plans for the four of them, as well as detailing the daring escape they had tried earlier. Aang told her that he was the Avatar, clearly expecting the same kind of surprised reaction that he normally got, but Toph seemed thoroughly unimpressed with the information. She reacted more strongly when Katara mentioned that she was from the Southern Water Tribe.

"Wait a minute," Toph said, expression quizzical. "You're Water Tribe? Do you happen to have a brother named Sokka?"

Katara's eyes grew wide and excited, and she gushed, "Have you seen him? Is he okay?"

"Last I knew, he was fine. Kind of," Toph replied. "Granted, he was with me when the bandits took me, so I don't know if he's still okay. They might have missed him, though, if they were just after me. He's pretty small."

Katara frowned in confusion. "What?" she asked. "My brother is actually pretty tall."

"Not anymore." Toph shrugged. "Some sorcerer turned him into a badger-cat."

"…Seriously?" Zuko asked skeptically. "They had all that crazy magic, and the best they could come up with was 'badger-cat'?"

"Don't ask me," Toph answered. "I met him that way." With that, it was Toph's turn to regale the others with her story, up to the point when she and Sokka had been attacked by a group of bandits on the street.

"Hopefully, he got away," she concluded, looking concerned. "He can't exactly fight as a badger-cat."

"I'm still boggling over the concept that my  _brother_  is a  _badger-cat_ ," Katara said, her expression a mix of appalled and mystified.

"Hey, at least I found you," Toph said brightly. "Sokka's gonna be thrilled, as soon as we get back to him. And on that note," she said, cracking her knuckles with a decisive snap, "Let's see about getting out of this jail cell, shall we?"

"We tried before," Zuko reminded her. "I don't think they're going to fall for another bathroom trick."

"Well, I don't like the idea of sitting around and waiting for some pirate to steal my bending away," Toph said. She grinned wickedly, adding, "Besides, who said anything about a trick?"

She turned and walked over to the cell door, finding her way more confidently than Zuko would have imagined a blind girl able. Katara followed her, clearly endeared to the girl who had assisted her brother, and together both of them began examining the cell door.

Rather than join them, Aang sidled up next to Zuko, his eyes bright.

"Zuko," he whispered, sounding excited. "That's  _her_."

"That's who?" Zuko asked.

"It's  _Swamp Girl_ ," he elaborated, gesturing toward Toph. "She's right there!"

Zuko blinked, startled by the revelation. "Yeah," he murmured, trying to quell his surprise. "I'm thinking that maybe 'Swamp Girl'  _isn't_  the best nickname, now that she's in earshot."

Aang grinned at him, oblivious. "She's  _real_ ," he gushed.

"And she seems completely immune to your charms," Zuko countered. Aang's face fell slightly, and he smirked at him. "I say we keep her."

Before Aang could reply, Toph cut in, "Not to interrupt your gossiping, little old ladies, but I think it's time to get out of here."

"What are you doing?" Katara asked, eyeing the door with a puzzled frown.

"Just wait," Toph said. Then, raising her voice, she shouted, "Hey! Are there any guards out there?"

"We're not falling for your stupid tricks again!" came the gruff reply.

"Yeah, you can all go pee together!" another guard added, and a chorus of laughter followed the remarkably unfunny joke.

Toph tilted her head, clearly listening, and then she concluded, "Sounds like there's about five of them." She gestured toward her cellmates, asking, "Are you guys ready?"

Aang and Zuko exchanged a glance, and Katara shrugged when they looked over at her. All three of them had a similar expression of confusion.

After a beat, Aang replied, "Sure?"

"Good," Toph said. Without another word, she stepped forward and readied herself in an earthbending stance. She lunged forward in a sharp gesture, arms extended in front of her as though to hit the door. Zuko's eyes widened when he saw her actually ram her hands  _into_  the metal door, where they sank into the metal up to her wrists. With a loud grunt, she tore the door away from its frame, causing a loud, piercing shriek to echo through the small cell. When she was finished, she held the metal door crumpled in her hands, like it was no stronger than parchment.

One of the guards stood just outside the doorframe, staring in horror at the scene. Without missing a step, Toph compacted the door into a decently round ball and chucked it at him. The metal object hit him in the face, and the pirate dropped like a rock.

Rather than comment on  _what the hell_  had just happened there, Zuko jumped into the fray, blasting fire in short bursts as soon as he had cleared the doorway. Aang joined him, though Katara, who didn't have any water to work with, hung back in the cell. Between Aang and Zuko's fighting abilities, coupled with Toph's timely use of the metal door on occasion, they managed to knock out all of the guards.

Once the battle finished, they all stood silently for a moment, catching their breath.

Then Aang exclaimed, "You can  _bend metal_?" to Toph, who was standing in the doorway.

"I'm awesome," Toph replied with the air of having said so before. She grinned broadly and then acknowledged, "Though, to be honest, it's really just refined earthbending."

Aang looked almost as though he wanted to propose marriage. Zuko thought it might be best to stop this before it happened, and he interjected, "That's cool and all, but we need to get off this pirate ship now."

"One problem," Toph said, her smug expression fading away as she stepped out onto the wooden flooring in the passageway. "I can't see anything on this ship. Is it made of wood?"

"Yeah," Katara replied. "It's a Water Tribe ship; they're all made out of wood."

"What is  _wrong_  with you people?"

"Hey!"

"No worries!" Aang cut in, slipping into his role as the eternal peacemaker with practiced ease. He gently grabbed Toph's arm and said, "Here, I'll help you find your way. We just have to get off the ship, and then—"

Zuko and Aang exchanged a glance. Considering they were on a ship, it was pretty much assured that they would be in the ocean. This would likely be just as hard for Toph to navigate.

"Let's just get off the ship," Zuko resolutely said.

With Aang assisting Toph along the trickier parts of the path, the four of them managed to make their way toward the exit. The pirates seemed to have cottoned on to their prisoners' resourcefulness, and had added more guards in strategic spots along the way. Zuko and Aang were able to quickly dispatch the lookouts, relying on a mix of stealth and brute force. Once they passed by a latrine that had some fresh water, even Katara was able to join in, though Toph wisely continued to hang back along the bulkhead whenever fighting broke out. Between the three of them, they managed to make it most of the way without serious incident.

They had nearly made it to first deck when they were ambushed by a fairly large group of pirates. Unlike most of the guards from before, these pirates were older and decidedly more scarred, clearly representing the core group of experienced fighters.

Zuko wasted no time in striking at them with a burst of fire. His swords were gone  _again_ , but he wasn't exactly a slouch at using firebending to attack. Aang was working in tandem with him, using his airbending to trip up their opponents while Zuko aimed precise spheres of flame at them. Katara joined in the game by using her small supply of water as a whip, which caused nearly as much damage as Aang and Zuko together.

Despite their cohesive teamwork, Zuko knew that they wouldn't be able to hold out for long. There were just  _so many_  pirates. He fought on doggedly, letting his frustration at their situation fuel his bending, and for a few moments, he thought that they might actually be able to get out of this. The addition of Katara to their team had added a new element to their fighting, which in turn seemed to double their strength.

Just as he was beginning to feel encouraged, Zuko heard a scuffle behind him, followed by an outraged scream.

"Stop fighting!" shouted a loud, deep voice, which cut through the room as sharply as a sword. "Or I'll kill the earthbender girl."

Zuko whipped around, eyes wide, and saw with horror that the pirates had doubled around behind them. A particularly burly man was now holding Toph by the waist and had an elaborate dagger pressed against her neck. For her part, Toph didn't look scared so much as pissed off, but she held very still against the dagger's serrated edge.

"Ah, that's better," the lead pirate said, smiling coldly as all three of them ceased fighting. It was Captain Akim, Zuko realized, recalling Aang's story of how they had been taken captive. He was surrounded by another batch of pirates, all of whom were armed to the teeth.

"You can't kill her!" shouted Aang. His voice had a desperate edge to it, and when Zuko looked at him, he saw that Aang had his hands stretched out in a gesture of peace. He pleaded, "You need us! For your ritual thing. Right?"

Captain Akim seemed amused by Aang's fear. "That's true, I suppose. And she  _is_  such a pretty little thing," he murmured, using the dagger's edge to trace the outline of Toph's cheek. Toph looked disgusted by the action, trying without success to squirm away from him. Zuko felt a rush of furious horror from the implication, and at his side, he could tell that Aang and Katara felt the same.

Then Captain Akim smirked at Aang and said, "However, you realize that we don't need a  _specific_  earthbender for this ritual. Anyone with significant bending ability will do. And we just so happen to be in port near Gaoling, which is one of the earthbending capitals of the world. Trust me, finding a replacement for the ritual would  _not_  be difficult."

Captain Akim nodded to a couple of his subordinates, who slowly approached the three of them with rope in hand. He coldly said, "So now you have a choice. It's very simple: surrender or the girl dies."

* * *

The first thing Sokka thought when he finally regained consciousness was,  _wow, this feels familiar_. Something about the smell of the air combined with the swaying of the ground made Sokka think of being small again, tagging along with his father on the ships in port.

"What in the world do they need with a  _badger-cat_?" queried a random man, who sounded oddly like someone he knew.

"Running low on food?" joked another man, and Sokka's grogginess vanished in an instant.

He leapt up, searching for the source of the voice. Or at least, he tried to, but it turned out that he was in  _yet another_  cage, so all he wound up doing was bash his head on the low ceiling of his cell. He hissed in reflex and felt his claws dig deeply into the rough wood of the cage.

"Hey there, little guy," the first man said calmly, his voice pitched low and soothing. Now that Sokka was more coherent, he recognized the man as Bato, his father's best friend. Kneeling next to Bato was  _his father_ , who was eyeing Sokka in confusion.

"Is it okay?" his father asked Bato.

"I think it's scared," Bato replied.

"Probably of your face."

"Bite me."

"Dad!" Sokka said, interrupting the bickering.

Both his father and Bato stared at him, wide-eyed.

"Did that badger-cat just call me 'Dad'?" Hakoda asked.

Bato quickly said, "Okay, saying this right now: I never want to know the story behind this.  _Ever._ "

"No!" Sokka cried. "It's me, Sokka!"

If anything, the confusion evident on both men's faces only grew more pronounced.

"A sorcerer turned me into a badger-cat," explained Sokka helplessly. "And they kidnapped Katara. And then I found a blind princess, and I accidentally sold her to a witch but we escaped, and then the bandits attacked."

Bewildered silence was all the response Sokka got.

Then his father turned to Bato and whispered, "Did you put something in my drink?"

"I  _wish_  I could say this was the result of drugs," Bato muttered back.

"Oh,  _come on_ ," Sokka moaned, exasperated.

Sokka couldn't see much of the room past his father and Bato, but suddenly a voice called out from behind them, "Hey, are you guys talking to the badger-cat? I know we've been prisoners for a while and all, but  _seriously_."

"Yeah, Captain," echoed another voice. "Going crazy isn't good leadership."

Bato and Hakoda turned to regard the men, giving Sokka a solid view of the room for the first time. It was packed with sailors from the Water Tribe, all men that Sokka knew well, as they were all members of his father's crew. He abruptly recognized the room they were in. It was the main brig in his father's ship, which seemed to have been redecorated into a makeshift bunking area. Spread throughout the relatively large room were around twenty of his father's sailors, all of whom were looking more ragged than Sokka could ever recall.

Before he could think about it, Sokka exclaimed, "What are  _you guys_  doing here?"

Needless to say, shocked silence did not so much dominate the room as it utterly ravaged it.

It took nearly an hour of denials, accusations, and long explanations for the entire tale to be sorted out, and even then, at least half of the men were still staring at Sokka with wary eyes. His father adjusted to the new information rather quickly, and Bato, with a longsuffering sigh that spoke of experience, seemed resigned to the ridiculous situation.

"So these bastards kidnapped Katara?" his father said, sounding outraged. He ran a hand through his full beard, clearly a result of spending so long in captivity. He and the other Water Tribe sailors had told Sokka of their journey as well. After being ambushed by the pirates, they had been separated from the waterbenders in the navy and forced into the main brig. Those with bending power hadn't been heard from since.

"I bet she's up in the auxiliary brig," Bato predicted. "Maybe they're keeping all the benders there."

"Yeah," Sokka supposed, "and now that I've found you, we can go and find her."  _And hopefully, we can also find Toph_ , he worried. He had seen Toph fall, but he had been knocked out shortly after that, and so he had no idea what had become of his friend after that.

The medallion around his neck was gone, which told Sokka that it had been the bandits who had attacked them. As far as he knew, they didn't have a use for Toph, which in the best case only meant that they would have left her lying in the street, unconscious. His stomach clenched with apprehension.

"Well," Bato said, staring at the wooden cage Sokka was in with an experienced eye. "Maybe now's the time for us to finally take back this ship."

"What are you talking about, Bato?" one of the sailors, an older man named Tamada, queried gruffly. Several other men echoed his confusion, but Hakoda was nodding as if he understood.

"Now that Sokka's here, we could stage an escape," his father suggested, a grin slowly appearing on his tired face.

"Picking the lock on this little cage will be easy," Bato confirmed, giving it an examining look.

"And Sokka," his father said excitedly, turning to him, "You are small enough that you can slip through the window in the corner. The guard down here is usually asleep or drunk, so you should be able to steal the keys without too much of a fight."

The window Hakoda referred to was one of several small openings in the upper part of the front wall, which served to provide airflow while still limiting the prisoners' view of the passageway. Once they had hammered out the details of the plan – it was a quick process, being that the plan was "get the keys" – one of the taller men in the brig lifted Sokka up to one of the windows. There were three iron bars intersecting the open space, but Sokka was a small badger-cat, and he managed to squeeze through the tight space.

Once he was out of the cell, Sokka perched on the outside ledge and regarded the scene below him. The guard was sitting on a stool at the end of the hall, his head tilted back against the wall. Even if Sokka couldn't tell from his position, the loud snores coming from his gaping mouth were more than enough confirmation that he was, indeed, asleep.

He barely made a sound as he leapt from the ledge, which made Sokka suddenly grateful for the grace he gained after being turned into a badger-cat. Silently, he padded forward, using his sharper vision to spot the shiny ring of keys hanging from the guard's belt.

Once he made it to the sleeping guard, however, Sokka was presented with a problem.  _How in the world am I supposed to get the keys off without waking this guy?_

The belt the keys were hanging on was made of thick leather, and even though Sokka could see a dagger hanging from the other side of the man's belt, he wasn't sure if he had the dexterity to use a knife with his paws. In the end, he figured that his best bet was to undo the guard's belt and try to catch the keys before they fell.

Gingerly, he jumped up on the man's lap. Other than a vague grunt, the pirate didn't seem to notice the extra weight on his lap. Though he paused warily for a moment, Sokka quickly began his task of undoing the guard's belt.

At the same time, he found himself keeping a running mental commentary of,  _you're just undoing some random man's belt, this isn't totally weird; just do it and eventually you'll be back to your normal life, where you're_ not  _a badger-cat and you_ don't _undo other men's belts._

He had nearly gotten the buckle unlatched when the guard gave a second grunt and suddenly started awake, blinking at him with bleary eyes. Sokka froze. For a long moment, both of them stared at each other, as the guard was clearly unsure how to handle this situation.

Sokka couldn't blame the man, really; if he had been the one to wake up with a badger-cat trying to take off his belt, he imagined he would react just as slowly, if only because there was only so much incredulity one could process at a time. Still, it didn't mean that Sokka wasn't going to take advantage of the hesitation.

Hissing loudly, Sokka swiped at the man's face with his long claws. He scratched the man deeply across the cheekbone and felt the rush of hot blood on his paws.

"What the—!" shouted the guard, eyes wide. The shock of the swipe made him yelp something incomprehensible and topple backwards off his stool. Sokka leapt after him, hoping to – well, he wasn't sure  _what_  he hoped to do, exactly, but he was fairly certain that continuing to claw the man in the face wouldn't be a poor choice, at least.

Luck was apparently in Sokka's favor, however, because as the man fell, his head collided with the handrail on the wall, the sound echoing through the passageway with a sharp crack. Sokka continuing swiping at his face, but he soon realized that the guard was out cold.

"Sokka?" called his father from the jail cell, where all of the sailors had clearly heard the exchange.

Sokka prodded the guard with a paw, who despite his head wound was still breathing. After confirming that he was, indeed, unconscious, Sokka didn't waste any time. He finished undoing the man's belt and quickly snatched the key ring in his mouth before trotting over the cell door.

He nudged the keys under the door with his paws, calling out, "Got 'em!"

Within moments, his father had the door open and the Water Tribe sailors flooded the hallway, looking relieved to be out of the brig. His father and Bato were in the lead, and they both stared down at the motionless pirate with surprise in their eyes.

"You managed to knock him out?" Bato asked.

"Very impressive, Sokka," his father commented, a wide grin spreading across his weary face.

"Yeah," Sokka said, not bothering to explain how the guard had actually knocked  _himself_  out. He took a page from Toph's book and added, "I'm totally awesome."

Bato rolled his eyes, clearly not buying it, and he said wryly, "So what now, Captain?"

"Now?" Hakoda repeated, glancing back at all the men. "Now we go rescue my daughter."

"And if that's not possible," the elderly Tamada said darkly, "at the very least, it's time to kick some pirate ass."

"That, too."

* * *

After tying their hands securely behind their backs, Captain Akim and his men brought Katara and the others to the top deck, where they could see that the ship was in port along a shallow stretch of beach. On the fine white sand, Katara could see that a ritual site had already been set up. Four large boulders were positioned in a circular shape near the dunes, and each of them was large and nearly flat like tables. One of the rocks had a wooden board tied onto it, though the others were bare.

The ritual site was encircled by jagged rocks and various wildlife; making the area nearly inaccessible by foot. However, when she looked closely, Katara could see a small trail that earthbenders had clearly established long ago leading into the mountains.

Without further ado, the pirates forced all of them off the ship, leading them down the gangplank with force. Toph, who Captain Akim had given to another pirate once she tried to bite him, was being held by a heavyset man who managed to keep her struggles to a minimum. He did not, however, manage to silence her vicious tongue, and she spent most of the trip creating different ways to insult the whole group of pirates, each one more vulgar than the last.

"I wanted to give all of you themed thrones," Captain Akim said loudly, interrupting Toph's tirade. He gestured toward the wood-covered rock amidst the other bare ones, and continued, "A pool of water for the firebender, dried out earth for the waterbender, and so on. Unfortunately, time just isn't on our side right now, so our little earthbender is the only one who gets special treatment. Don't you feel loved?"

"Go  _blow a horse-lizard_ ," snarled Toph, fighting against the pirate's grip. Even though she knew that she would normally be mortified by the words coming out of the girl's mouth, Katara couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer amount of insults Toph knew.

Beside her, Zuko raised his eyebrows and grinned. Aang just kept staring, as though he couldn't quite believe what was going on, though Katara couldn't tell if it had anything to do with Toph or not.

Captain Akim regarded Toph with a tolerant smile that didn't reach his dark eyes. He gave his subordinates a curt nod and ordered, "Tie them to the rocks."

With more intensity than necessary, the pair of pirates escorting Katara forced her down onto the rock nearest the ocean, which was across from Toph. She could nearly feel the ocean on her fingertips, and the knowledge that their salvation was just out of her reach infuriated her. If she could just break free for an  _instant_ , she could cause a wave or  _something_.

Instead, Katara was tied onto the rock with thick ropes stretching her arms out above her head. They left her feet free, but the flat boulder was large enough that she couldn't put her feet on the ground anyway, so it mattered little. When the pirates were finished, Katara was left staring at the clear blue sky, hardly able to move from her position strapped across the stone. She lifted her head enough to see the other benders being tied down in the same way, though Toph, of course, was tied to the wooden board instead.

"Why are you  _doing_  this?" Aang suddenly cried, struggling against the ropes. "You have to know that raising the dead isn't going to make anything better! Even if you had a loved one die, they won't come back the same. They can't!"

Captain Akim raised an eyebrow at Aang, seemingly intrigued by the boy's outrage. He walked over to the airbender's rock and checked the ropes methodically. In a voice loud enough to carry across the beach, Captain Akim replied, "You think this is about a loved one?"

Katara couldn't see Aang's expression, but she could hear the confusion in his voice when he replied, "Well… yeah. Why else would you want to raise someone from the dead?"

Aang's response sent Captain Akim into a bellowing laugh, which resonated clearly over the sound of the ocean. Genuinely amused, the pirate bent at the waist, trying to contain his glee, but his chuckles continued for a long time.

Laughter finally petering out, Captain Akim said, "Why? You obviously didn't read the scroll very clearly, little boy. This ritual isn't about raising a single person from the dead – it's about raising an  _army_  of people from the dead."

From Katara's other side, Zuko said, "You mean  _zombies_?" in horror.

Vaguely, she heard Toph mutter, " _Seriously_?"

Captain Akim ignored Toph's skepticism and replied to Zuko with vicious cheer in his tone. "Zombies are exactly what I'm talking about,  _Prince Zuko_."

_What?_  Katara thought in shock, eyes going wide.

"Wait, what?" Toph echoed Katara's thoughts, though her tone was more bewildered than anything.

Stunned silence followed the proclamation, and Zuko stammered, "But I'm not—"

"You really think I don't know what the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation looks like?" questioned Captain Akim. "And even if I didn't, the scar on your face marks you better than any sign could." The pirate's tone turned mocking, and he said, "To think, that your own  _father_  gave it to you."

Zuko didn't say anything, but Katara couldn't abide the listening to the vicious speech any longer. "You shut your mouth!" she cried out, struggling anew against the ropes, to no end. "Who are you to talk about anything in the Fire Nation? You're just a disgusting pirate so pathetic that you have to resort to black magic to even have a  _chance_  at having any power!"

"Couldn't have said it any better myself," Toph agreed, and Katara felt a strange moment of bonding with the foul-mouthed girl.

Captain Akim strode over to Katara so quickly she barely had time to prepare before he was leaning over her, face twisted into an ugly scowl. She hardly realized he had raised his arm before her vision exploded in a haze of white stars, sending a shower of pain cascading through her face.

By the time she recovered enough to realize that she had been punched, the left side of her face throbbed like it was on fire. Through the pain, she could hear Zuko and Aang shouting in fury, but Captain Akim was still there, staring down at her with intense cold eyes.

"And you, little girl," the pirate snarled, "are nothing but a means to an end; a little nothing bender that I'm going to  _enjoy_  ripping the life out of in my quest to destroy this miserable world."

With that, Captain Akim walked away from her, heading toward the center of circle.

Zuko was still shouting at her. "Katara! Katara, answer me,  _Katara—"_

"I'm fine," Katara managed to say, though her split lip burned when she spoke.

Before either of them could say another word, Captain Akim started to address the group of pirates who stood crowded around the stone circle. They were mainly gathered behind Zuko's stone, so Captain Akim faced that direction as he said, "Now that we have retrieved the medallion, it's time to begin the sacred rites."

He held up a necklace, upon which glimmered a purple stone. Before Katara could ponder about the rites, Captain Akim began speaking in a strange tongue which seemed to swirl around her like water, drawing her deeper and deeper into darkness.


	8. Never Knew (I Needed)

CHAPTER 8: NEVER KNEW (I NEEDED)

" _For the way you changed my plans._

_For being the perfect distraction._

_For the way you took the idea I had_

_Of everything I wanted to have,_

_And made me see there was something missing."_

 

 

After the Water Tribe sailors made it to the nearest holding area and retrieved their weapons, retaking the ship wasn't so much a battle as it was a  _game_.

The few pirates that they came across were rather young and inexperienced, and Sokka suspected that they'd have been able to win even without weapons. As it was, after five minutes of easy pickings, Hakoda decided to speed up the process by splitting the twenty-man group into five sections of four, each assigned to retake a specific area of the ship.

Sokka ran ahead of his father's group, hugging the shadows to avoid being spotted by any stray pirates. His badger-cat form wasn't precisely inconspicuous, but he did have dark fur, and most people didn't bother to notice small animals when a horde of sailors was causing havoc nearby.

Because of this, Sokka was the first person to reach the first deck, pausing for a moment as his vision adjusted to the brightness of the morning light. There were scarcely any sailors on this deck either, and Sokka knew without thinking that this was  _wrong_. Something weird was going on.

Following his instincts – his  _human_  ones, for once – Sokka dashed over to the edge of the ship and looked around. They were in a port framed by mountains, with just a bare sliver of beach along the edge. He spotted the rest of the pirates almost immediately; they were crowded beside a circle of four stones. With a start, Sokka realized that each of the stones had a person tied to it. Not only that, but he  _knew_  the people – he could see Toph tied to a wooden board that was strapped to one of the stones, and Katara –  _finally –_ was tied to another. Two boys were strapped to the other boulders, but Sokka could barely think over his worry for the girls.

A glimmer of purple light drew Sokka's attention to the center of the stone circle, where Sokka saw an older pirate brandishing a very familiar-looking medallion.

Abruptly, Sokka realized that he was watching the beginning of a magic ritual.

Not a second later, he thought,  _I have to stop it_.

That was about as far as his planning got before Sokka was running, heading for the nearest exit with an speed he could hardly believe. The pirates had left the gangplank unguarded, as all of them were on the beach watching the ritual, and Sokka took full advantage of their lack of security.

As he ran toward the danger, Sokka scrambled his brains figuring out a possible course of action to stop this travesty. A semblance of a plan was beginning to form in his mind as he neared the fray, and Sokka could only hope that he remained unnoticeable for long enough to put it into action.

* * *

Toph was starting to  _seriously freak out_  when Captain Akim began to speak, especially when his words felt almost like the smoke had at the witch's shop, thick and heavy. She pulled against her ropes, but only succeeded in giving herself more splinters from the rough wood.

"Toph!" whispered a voice by her ear. She struggled to concentrate on it; Captain Akim's voice was like a buzzing in her head, growing steadily louder as his ritual progressed.

"Sokka?" Toph asked, only remembering to keep her voice down at the last second. "Sokka, get me out of here!"

"I'm chewing as fast as I can," he hurriedly hissed back, and she heard him scramble around just under the wooden board. She hoped that the pirates were all too focused on their captain to pay attention to the tiny figure messing about with her ropes, but given that she couldn't see, Toph figured she'd just have to have faith that Sokka was smart enough to stay hidden.

There was a soft snapping sound, and suddenly Toph felt the pressure against her left arm fade away. She didn't move it, however, trying to keep the charade of imprisonment going for as long as possible.

Captain Akim's voice was rising now, and Toph felt even sharper pain in her chest, like heavy stones were being piled on it.

" _Hurry up_ ," she gasped desperately, feeling the ritual working its magic on her.

"Almost… there," Sokka whispered, sounding nearly as worried as she did. There was a moment where the pain began to burn like fire in her chest and Toph heard herself whimper. She could scarcely hear her own voice over the buzzing in her mind, but just then, the ropes around her right arm snapped and Sokka said, "Now! Go!"

Toph didn't need any encouragement. She rolled off the wooden plank as quickly as she could manage, oblivious to the way the rough wood tore into her arms. Behind her, she could hear the shouts of pirates as they realized that she had escaped, but then she got her hands on the boulder underneath the wood.

Abruptly, she could see everything. They were on a beach, which made her vision a bit fuzzier than it normally would have been, but she could still see the group of pirates making their way toward her. Captain Akim stood in the center of three other boulders, on which she could feel the other benders. He was still chanting, and sharp pain shot across Toph's chest in a burst that nearly made her collapse to her knees.

She braced herself against the boulder and pulled strength from the rock, using her bending to block out the pain. With a ferocious grunt, she ripped the boulder in two, taking the smaller half and hurling it at Captain Akim with deadly accuracy. The rock collided with his sternum, cutting him off in the middle of his chanting.

The buzzing in her ears suddenly stopped, and Toph could breathe normally again.

She grinned wickedly.

Now they were going to  _pay_.

* * *

Katara had no idea what happened, but she knew one thing for certain: the pain was  _gone_.

She gasped air in deep gulps, feeling as though she had just been seconds away from drowning. Around her, she heard the pirates yelling, voices mixing in a loud chorus of rage, but she could hardly concentrate on their words over the sheer relief that she wasn't dying anymore.

She was vaguely aware of Toph  _laughing_ , of all things, and considered having a talk with the younger girl about  _proper_  reactions to this sort of harrowing experience. If they survived, of course, which Katara figured could go either way at this point.

Then she heard Sokka shouting, "Toph! The others! You need to cut the others loose; I can't get them all free in time!" and Katara abruptly snapped back to reality.

She jerked against her bonds, looking around as much as she was able, and shouted incredulously, "Sokka?"

A moment later, the boulder she was lying on shuddered and the ropes around her wrists snapped, much to Katara's relief. She sat up, and was barely able to take in the sight of Toph trying to fight off a horde of pirates before a small badger-cat leapt into her lap.

"Katara!" the badger-cat said brightly, its blue eyes shining bright against its dark brown fur.

She stared for a moment, boggled by the sheer concept of a talking badger-cat, and then managed to say, "Wow, Toph wasn't kidding."

"I know," Sokka said, sounding frustrated. "Magic is  _messed up_."

Even though Katara had roughly five million questions she wanted to ask her brother now that they were finally reunited, a pirate landed two feet from her boulder, startling her out of her reverie.

"Let's go!" she said, snatching up Sokka in one arm while she pivoted on the other and leapt off the stone. She dashed to the shoreline, heedless of the pirates that she knew were starting to chase her, and grinned brightly as she felt the frigid water lap up against her bare feet.  _Now_  she knew why Toph was laughing.

Katara whirled around, dropping Sokka into the shallow surf so she would have the freedom to bend. She saw the two pirates that followed her staggering to a stop, obviously just then remembering that Katara was a  _waterbender._

She managed not to taunt them, but Katara could feel herself smiling gleefully the whole time it took to knock both pirates unconscious with her water whip. The surge of adrenaline was still running strong as she regarded both men, and she held herself at the ready, arms flowing with water until they looked like tentacles.

"Ugh, this is  _so gross_ ," muttered Sokka beside her. Katara looked down to see him scrambling away from the tide, his formerly fluffy fur sodden with water. He was frantically trying to comb it out to no avail, looking miserable. " _This_  is why badger-cats hate water. Because it's  _nasty_  and _smelly_  and  _seriously,_  I think I just died a little inside."

"Sorry?" Katara managed, though her inability to hide her giggles probably belied the sentiment.

Sokka eyed her balefully. "This has been a  _great_  reunion, sis, thanks for that," he grumbled. His irritation only served to annoy Katara in turn, in a way that many childhood fights had begun.

"What? I needed to waterbend!" Katara argued, making a face.

"Why do you always need to soak  _me_  whenever you waterbend? Why is that?"

"Oh, grow up!"

"Katara!" came a third voice, interrupting their burgeoning fight. Katara looked up to see Zuko, who was pointing toward the mountains. "He's getting away!"

Looking past the battle, where Aang and Toph were taking on most of the pirates rather efficiently, Katara could see Captain Akim darting away on a sinuous trail leading into the nearby mountains. She could just barely see the medallion still clutched in his fist, amethyst stone glinting purple in the light.

Rage filled her mind unbidden, and Katara felt her jaw clench.

"Not on  _my_  watch, he's not!" she snarled. Without a second thought, Katara ran off after the pirate, her arms still swimming with water. Moments later, she heard Zuko fall into place beside her, and together, they made their way toward the escaping pirate.

* * *

They had managed to pare the pirate numbers down substantially, but unfortunately, all of the ones left were firebenders. For Aang, this was merely an annoyance, but he quickly realized that Toph had never fought firebenders before when a burst of flame nearly burned her arm to a crisp. She managed to pull up a shield of sand to cut through the heat at the last moment, but half of her shirt was fried off and the skin underneath looked pink and painful.

"You need to watch out!" Aang shouted at her, grabbing her arm and pulling her out of the way of yet another blast of fire. She yelped, startled, and the rocks she had been manipulating fell to the ground at her feet.

"Let me go!" Toph snapped back, expression fierce and stubborn.

Aang sighed in exasperation and concentrated, shooting a large air burst at the remaining pirates. It blasted all of them off their feet, but it wouldn't immobilize them. It wasn't a particularly effective battle tactic, but Aang wasn't trying to injure their opponents at the moment. He needed to buy some time to talk to Toph.

"Look," he said quickly, keeping his hand on her arm. "I get that you're really good at earthbending, but these are  _firebenders_  and you  _can't see fire_. They're targeting you! You have to let me handle this!"

Toph looked like she was going to argue with him at first, but then she growled furiously and replied, "I need to get to more solid ground. This sand makes my earth-vision blurry – if we were on  _real_  ground, I could see them bending and avoid it."

Aang had no reason to doubt the confidence in her voice, based on what he had seen so far, so he simply said, "Got it! Let's go!"

He took off further inland, running past the sand dunes toward the mountains in the distance. He kept a grip on Toph's hand, though by the time they reached the rockier terrain, she was matching his pace. Predictably, the pirates followed them, unwilling to let their prisoners escape.

"Help me trip them up!" Toph instructed him as they ran, managing to call out her words in between breaths.

"How?" asked Aang.

"Shift the rocks behind us!"

Aang glanced back, suddenly realizing that Toph had been making rock formations jut up behind them where they hadn't been before. It was nothing spectacularly large, but just enough to limit the abilities of the men from following them too closely.

"I can't!" Aang admitted, feeling a heat against his cheeks that had nothing to do with running. "I don't know how to earthbend!"

There was a moment's pause before Toph replied, "Aren't you the  _Avatar_? How do you  _not know how to earthbend_?" She sounded outraged.

"Sorry?" Aang offered. They had managed to make it to a higher point of ground, but just as Aang was about to press on to a more advantageous position, Toph tugged on his arm.

"Stop!" she commanded, voice urgent. Aang saw why shortly thereafter: just ahead of them, the ground fell away into a thirty foot drop-off, which Aang hadn't been able to see from the beach. To their side was an escape route, but it was a skinny path that hugged the side of the mountain. Even if they had tried, running away along that path would have been too slow to be successful.

It wasn't the best place to stand their ground, but they didn't seem to have a choice. Aang and Toph whirled around to face their pursuers, who were just then approaching their position.

Toph wasted no time striking the leading pirate in the jaw with a pillar of rock, which sprung out from the ground with surprising speed. Aang took advantage of the abrupt movement by shooting off a couple of bright fire bursts, which temporarily blinded the first pirates. He finished up his attack with a few complicated bending movements that sent a blast slicing through the air, hitting three pirates in the torso and forcing them back against their companions.

Taking a few steps in front of him, Toph used the confusion to sink four of the pirates up to their armpits in the rock. The bending made the mountainside shudder dangerously, but after a few perilous seconds, it steadied, holding solid against the reformation.

Only two pirates remained. The first one Aang sent tumbling down the way he came, using a small whirlwind to confuse his steps. The second pirate took in the situation with wide eyes, clearly aware that he was outmatched, and began a series of bending movements that Aang had never seen before. Just as Aang was about to strike at his knees to interrupt the bending, the air around them constricted, like it was being sucked away momentarily. Aang had a horrible flashback to the ritual, where he had felt like he was suffocating, but the pirate didn't seem to be using magic.

Instead, the air around them suddenly burned hot and exploded, sending a tremor through the ground and blasting everyone around with a wave of flame. Aang managed to whip up an air shield to defend against the explosion, but just barely.

Toph screamed beside him, and Aang turned to see her tumbling off the side of the cliff, rocks crumbling beneath her as the mountain refused to hold steady against this assault. She had managed to block the blast from burning her with a slab of stone, but the distraction had cost her; now she had no level ground to stand on, and she was falling through open air toward the rocks below.

Aang dove immediately, hoping desperately that he had enough time to form a cushion of air big enough for both of them. He managed to grab Toph halfway through their descent, clutching her against his chest, but he was just barely able to keep them from crashing fatally against the rocks.

In the end, they collided with the land below forcefully enough to knock the air from their lungs. Aang's back hit the ground first, still clutching Toph against his chest, and they rolled for a moment before coming to a stop in the rocky sand. Once they had stopped, Aang was lying on top of Toph and the shock from a near-death experience was making both benders gasp for air.

"Wow," said a new voice, sounding awed. "That was a pretty explosion. It was all, boom!"

Aang looked up, confused. Standing ten feet away from them was a small, slender girl dressed all in pink, her long brown hair pulled back into a neat, pretty style. To her side was a tall, skinny girl wearing all black, who was staring at them with a mildly intrigued expression on her pale face.

"Mai?" Aang asked, bewildered. "Ty Lee? What are  _you two_  doing here?" Aang had never been particularly close to the Fire Nation royal family – Zuko and Uncle Iroh being the exceptions – but Zuko and Mai had dated long enough that Aang had gotten to know her and Ty Lee by name.

"We could ask you the same thing, Avatar," Mai replied coolly.

"Who's your girlfriend, Aang?" Ty Lee asked much more brightly, grinning over at them.

Aang looked down, suddenly realizing that lying on top of a half-naked Toph probably gave a very wrong impression, regardless of how it had happened.

"Get off," Toph told him simply, sounding more exasperated than angry.

"Gyah," was all that Aang managed to say before he recoiled back, jumping to his feet and helping Toph stand as well. This time she allowed it without a word. She brushed at the remains of her tunic, which left one shoulder and arm completely bare and mildly burned.

"Seriously," Aang asked once he was standing. "Why are you guys here?"

"Azula," replied Mai, as if that was an explanation. Actually, when Aang considered the matter, it kind of was. Not just because he knew that Azula had also been investigating the missing library scrolls, but also because Aang was mildly convinced that Azula was more of a demon spirit than an actual human being.

"I'm Toph," informed Toph, frowning at the new girls. "I really don't care why you're here. Are the pirates taken care of?"

"For the most part," Mai said.

"The talking badger-cat went and got the Water Tribe sailors," Ty Lee added, as if that made any sense at all. Aang stared at her as though she had grown three heads.

"Cool," Toph said, clearly getting more out of that statement than Aang had. "Let's go help Sokka torment the prisoners."

* * *

Even though Captain Akim had a sizable lead on them, Zuko and Katara managed to make up the difference rather quickly. This was mostly due to the halting way the pirate was running, which led Zuko to believe he might have a broken rib or three.

_Guess getting hit with a boulder will do that to you,_  Zuko mused as he sprinted after the man. The trail grew narrower as it wound higher up the mountain, so Zuko took the lead with Katara following close behind. Two walls of rock framed the path; stretching at least ten feet up in the air and making the area feel even more enclosed. Absently, Zuko noted that it would be the perfect place for an ambush, should someone get the opportunity.

As soon as they were within striking range, Zuko shouted out, "Stop right there!" Though he wasn't on official palace business, Zuko knew that an attack from behind was dishonorable, even if his opponent was an evil pirate set on world destruction.

Unsurprisingly, Captain Akim didn't stop. Instead, the older man pivoted awkwardly on his heel and shot a wave of fire at them. Katara pushed forward and whipped a wall of water up to block the flames, but the narrow space heightened the fire's effect, causing most of the water to burn off as steam.

Still, Katara's actions saved both of them from being burnt to a crisp, and Zuko took advantage of the cover provided by the steam. He ran past Katara toward Captain Akim, who had resumed his attempted escape. Not wanting to create another vacuum of heat with a large fire blast, Zuko instead directed a thin stream of fire at the pirate's feet.

The attack hit home and Captain Akim cursed violently as his ankle gave out, sending the large man toppling to the ground. Immediately, Zuko leapt at him, hoping to knock the pirate out with a solid hit to the neck. Captain Akim saw it coming, however, and managed to kick Zuko in the side forcefully enough to drive him into the wall.

Despite the setback, Zuko had the upper hand in this attack, and he could tell by the calculating look in Captain Akim's eyes that the pirate knew it, too. Just as Zuko was about to settle the fight once and for all, Captain Akim rolled away from him, leaving himself open for an attack. In doing so, however, the pirate also managed to send two strong bolts of flame into the sides of the rock.

Zuko felt like he was moving in slow motion. The streaks of fire exploded against the rock just behind him, sending rock showering down on the trail. Katara was standing just under the blast, directly in the path of the rockslide, and before Zuko knew it, he was dashing toward her, leaving Captain Akim forgotten along the path.

He collided with Katara seconds before the rocks tumbled down onto them, and his momentum carried both of them past the worst of the collapse. He and Katara fell to the ground with him trying to shield her as best he could.

After what felt like a horribly long time, the shuddering earth finally stilled, leaving both Zuko and Katara choking on dust.

Zuko stared down at Katara with wide eyes, noticing a couple of scraps on her face and dirt in her dark hair. "Are you okay?" he asked desperately, heart pounding.

Katara's seemed cognizant, if a bit confused, and after a moment, her expression turned alarmed. "He's getting away!" she said, ignoring Zuko's concern.

_Oh, right_ , Zuko thought briefly, suddenly remembering Captain Akim. He jumped off Katara and whirled around, trying to locate the pirate. Instead of a clear path, Zuko found that there was now a pile of boulders blocking their way. The rocks had fallen in such a way that despite being able to see through the barrier in some places, Zuko knew that he and Katara wouldn't be able to scale it in a timely manner.

On the other side of the rocks, Zuko could see Captain Akim climbing to his feet. He regarded the barrier as well, looking smug as he came to the same conclusion Zuko had.

Without another word, the burly pirate turned and began his escape yet again, except this time Zuko and Katara had no way to pursue him. Zuko felt his heart begin to sink, knowing that Captain Akim still had the scrolls and medallion, giving him all that he needed to attempt the ritual again in the future. He couldn't remember the last time he had felt this helpless.

Wrapped up in his self-recrimination, Zuko was caught  _completely_ by surprise when a precise bolt of lightning struck Captain Akim in the back, sending the man flying face-first into the dirt. He twitched a few times but remained prone on the ground. Zuko couldn't tell if he was alive or dead.

Instead of worrying about that, Zuko looked up to find the origin of the lightning bolt. Standing on top of the rock wall disdainfully, looking just as regal and imperious as she had at her coming-of-age party, was the Fire Princess Azula.

"Really, Zu-zu," Azula said coldly, one hand resting on her hip as she examined the smoking fingernails on the other. "What in Agni's name are _you_  doing here?"

Zuko stared at his little sister incredulously, feeling almost as though he had been hit by a lion-bison. Beside him, Zuko could practically  _feel_ Katara's confusion, though she had the grace to say nothing.

Finally, Zuko shrugged.

"Vacation," he answered lamely.

If nothing else, the expression on Azula's face almost made the whole thing worth it.

* * *

"So," Sokka said, looking around at the collection of people standing on the beach. "Let me get this straight –  _that_ is the Crown Prince of the Fire Nation?"

"I guess so," Toph replied, shrugging.

"And over  _there_  is his sister and her 'warrior women' or whatever—" At this, Sokka made quotation marks in the air with his paws, which even he thought looked kind of weird. "And all three of them were  _also_  searching for the pirates?"

"Apparently," confirmed Katara.

"And  _you're_  the  _Avatar_?"

"Last time I checked, I still was," Aang replied cheerfully, shrugging.

Sokka took a moment to digest all this information before he turned to Katara and asked, "When did our lives get this weird?"

"You're still a badger-cat," replied Katara dryly. "I'm pretty sure that's the weirdest thing out of the whole mess."

"Yeah, and who are you to talk?" Toph asked. "I'm the one who found a  _talking badger-cat_  in my room and got roped into this thing for no reason."

Sokka looked at Aang, waiting for the other boy's rebuttal, but Aang simply grinned at him. "I'm the Avatar," he said by way of explanation. "This sort of thing tends to happen a lot around me."

"What, magic pirates trying to raise an army of the dead?" Toph said, pulling a face.

"You'd be surprised."

As the other three began an animated discussion of Aang's various adventures, Sokka watched the discussions taking place along the beach. Prince Zuko – one of the boys that Sokka had seen tied up with his sister and Toph, along with the Avatar – was mediating a discussing between Hakoda and Princess Azula for custody of the pirate prisoners. After the battle, the Water Tribe sailors had made quick work of securing the pirates and lining them up along the beach where they could be watched. This process was aided by the collection of Fire Nation troops that Princess Azula had operating her hot air machine – which, Sokka had to admit, was  _incredibly cool_  – as well as her personal warriors.

Hakoda had spent a fair amount of time hugging his daughter once Katara and Zuko had limped out from the mountains with Azula following primly behind them. Rather than try and lug the pirate captain back with them, they had secured the injured man and left him for some sailors to retrieve while they settled the issue of jurisdiction. Basically, both Princess Azula and Sokka's father maintained that the prisoners belong to their respective nations, and as both of them were in control of attack forces, it was a bit of a mess.

In the end, Zuko had sent everyone away so that he could try to mediate the conflict. Despite being the Avatar, Aang seemed reluctant to deal with Azula, and Zuko was in the unique position of having worked with Hakoda before.

As it was, the negotiations seemed to be wrapping up. Hakoda and Bato walked back to the rest of the Water Tribe sailors, looking satisfied, and Zuko made his way back to their group, with Azula following behind. Her expression seemed sour, though Sokka couldn't tell if it was due to displeasure or not. From what he could tell, she always looked like that.

"So," Zuko said, nodding to Aang. "We've agreed that the prisoners are going to be in the custody of the Fire Nation, because the whole ritual was based on Fire Nation scrolls. In exchange for the prisoners, the Southern Water Tribe gets to take back their ship and any amount of goods they find on it." After a moment, he added, "With the exception of our weapons, of course," shooting a grin at Aang.

"Good!" replied Aang, expression relieved. "I'm glad it worked out for the best."

"It'll do," Azula admitted, though she didn't seem terribly pleased with the results.

"But what about Sokka?" Katara asked, looking over at him. "He's still a badger-cat. Isn't there some way to fix him?"

The group fell into a lapse of awkward silence, as everyone stared at Sokka with expressions of mutual concern. Well, okay, Toph didn't actually look at him, and Azula seemed more interested in her cuticles, but Sokka still twitched uncomfortably under the attention.

Abruptly, he was struck by a realization, and he sat up on his hind legs.

"Wait!" he said, excited. "We do have a solution!"

"We do?" Katara asked.

"Yes!" he proclaimed. He pointed one paw at Azula, who raised a disdainful eyebrow in return. "You're a princess, aren't you?"

"Oh, please tell me you're not still  _on that_ ," muttered Toph.

"Yes," Azula replied. "So?"

"So, if you kiss me, I'll turn back into a human!" Sokka concluded.

The rest of the group stared at him with varying expressions of skepticism on their faces. Finally, Katara asked, "Did you get that from the fairytale of the Princess and the Frog-Otter?"

"Well, yes," he admitted.

"This isn't a fairytale, Sokka!" his sister replied, sounding exasperated.

"From everything I've heard, it's pretty close! Daring swordfights, magic spells, and a  _prince_  in disguise?" Sokka protested. "Sounds like a fairytale to me."

Before Katara could shoot him down, Zuko interjected with a hopeful, "Well, actually—"

"Oh, spirits, now you're infecting  _other people_  with your stupidity," Toph groaned, slapping her forehead with the palm of her hand. Sokka swiped at her bare foot with his claws, just barely avoiding her retribution kick.

"—it might not be too crazy of an idea," concluded Zuko, ignoring the spat. "I mean, we've never dealt with magic. Maybe there's a kernel of truth in that fairytale."

"I'm not doing it," Azula declared, looking disgusted with the idea.

"I'll let you take complete and total credit for this whole ordeal," countered Zuko smoothly, as though he had been thinking about it. "It's a big victory, after all. Father will be  _very_  impressed. I bet he'd even consider letting you have your own battalion."

From the way her expression turned gleeful, Sokka figured she found the idea of her own battalion very intriguing. For reasons he couldn't quite identify, that concept made a jolt of cold terror shoot down his spine. Off to the side, Aang looked as though he felt the same.

"And all you'd have to do is give Sokka one  _tiny_  kiss," Zuko pressed.

After a few moments of consideration, Azula held out her finely manicured hand. "Deal," she said firmly, clasping hands with her brother. With purposeful movements, she stepped forward and gingerly picked Sokka up.

She made a face at his matted fur, but still managed to get past her distaste long enough to lean forward and kiss him quickly on the nose. Immediately afterward, she dropped him, dusting off her hands.

Sokka landed gracefully on the sand, thanks to his feline instincts. He waited a few moments, hoping desperately for  _something_  to happen, but despite his hopes, nothing changed. He was still a badger-cat.

"Oh,  _darn_ ," murmured Azula, her tone mocking. "Too bad for you, Zu-zu, the deal's already made." She smiled sweetly at her brother, radiating anything but sisterly love, and said, "We're leaving now."

She pivoted on her heel and walked back toward her group of Fire Nation warriors. Sokka barely noticed her absence, too caught up in his own despair at being stuck in this tiny form. The rest of the group didn't say anything, clearly not knowing how to handle the disappointment.

Then Toph tilted her head, looking quizzical, and asked, "Would this be a bad time to say 'I told you so'?"

"Oh shut up," grumbled Sokka, pawing at the ground irritably.

"You know," Aang interjected before the mood could grow sour, "I was thinking – the entire basis of using bending magic is predicated on the concept of energy bending, which takes your inner  _chi_  and displaces it to create a source of outward transformative power."

Toph blinked. Then she stated, "I have no idea what you just said."

"He's talking about manipulating magic," Zuko explained. Then, after a moment, he added, "I think."

"What do you mean?" Katara asked, looking intrigued.

"Well," Aang explained. "I was thinking that maybe I could try to fix Sokka. All I'd be doing is taking back the bending energy that was used to change him into a badger-cat in the first place, thereby allowing him to revert back to his normal form. In fact, I think it would be easier to change him back. The world tends to like things in their natural state, after all."

"Let's try it!" Sokka said, excited. "Seriously, I'll try anything at this point."

"Okay," Aang said, kneeling down. "Let me see if I can."

He pressed one hand to Sokka's head and the other along his back, closing his eyes. At first, nothing seemed different, but then Sokka saw Aang begin to glow bright blue and the hands on his fur vibrated with energy.

Just as he was beginning to think  _this is really strange_ , Sokka felt like the air was being constricted, and everything abruptly went white. He could still feel Aang's hands on him, warm and steady, but everything else was muted. Unlike the sharp shock that he felt when he had  _first_  become a badger-cat, this transformation felt natural and calm, like he was dreaming while wide awake.

When the world came back to normal again, Sokka was lying on the ground with Aang toppled in his lap, looking incredibly startled. For a second, he stared in confusion, and then Sokka abruptly realized that he was  _human_  again.

"I'm back!" he gasped, eyes wide. In the next second, he laughed, grinning widely and grabbing Aang by the shoulders with his  _hands_.

"Hey, it worked," Aang said back, looking rather surprised. He smiled back at him, shrugging as if to say  _well, I guess sometimes you get lucky_. Sokka chose to ignore the fact that he had just be the subject of a bending experiment and focus on the whole  _being human again_  part.

Sokka jumped to his feet, helping Aang up as soon as he was stable. He was still dressed in his traveling tunic, just like he had been when he was transformed, and nothing seemed to be missing.

"Man, I feel like  _dancing_ , this is so awesome!" Sokka cheered. He grabbed Katara and twirled her around, laughing. "I'm human again!"

"That's great, Sokka," Katara said, smiling brightly at him.

"Huh, what do you know," murmured Toph, sounding impressed. "All that spiritual crap Twinkletoes was spouting worked."

Aang frowned, repeating, "Twinkletoes?"

"You walk like you're dancing," explained Toph succinctly. "You do realize that this makes you the princess in the stories, right? Like, Princess Twinkletoes?"

To her side, Zuko smothered a laugh in his hand, mouthing 'Princess Twinkletoes' like it was the best thing he'd ever heard. Aang made a mortified face, still seated on the ground.

"Hey!" Sokka shouted, pointing an accusing finger at Toph. "Don't you dare insult the manliness of my heroic rescuer! He saved me!"

"And maybe if you're  _really_  lucky, he'll whisk you away to his palace," mocked Toph in return, grinning.

"I'm not dignifying that with a response," Sokka said, trying to sound serious but finding himself unable to keep the wide grin off his face. He gave in and gave Toph a big hug, lifting her off the ground despite her protests and gleefully shouting, "See, I  _told_  you I was bigger than you!"

"In any case," Katara said, looking just as happy, "I think that settles everything." She paused for a moment, considering something, and then added, "Well, almost everything."

Stepping forward, Katara went to Zuko stood on her tiptoes to kiss him on the cheek. Sokka, who had put Toph down by this point, was able to see Zuko's face go from pale to bright red in seconds, and even managed to quell his initial urge to crush Zuko's face in a fit of brotherly fury.

Katara pulled away and smiled kindly at Zuko, saying, "Thank you for saving my life back there."

If anything, the comment made Zuko look even more embarrassed. Rubbing a hand on the back of his neck in a very undignified manner, Zuko managed to stammer, "Ah, it was, um, my pleasure."

Sokka narrowed his eyes at the growing affection he saw between his  _sister_  and the prince, and he pointed at them with a frown on his face. "Now, wait just a  _minute_ —"

As Zuko tried to backtrack and Katara scoffed at Sokka's overprotective nature, Toph turned toward Aang, who was watching the whole exchange with a wide grin on his face.

"I'm not kissing you," she informed Aang.

"But I totally saved you," Aang teased back, in a surprising show of daring. Toph raised an eyebrow at his impetuousness, grinning despite herself.

"Whatever, Princess Twinkletoes," Toph said back. She slapped Sokka on the back and said, "I'm pretty sure badger-kitty here is first."

Aang and Sokka simultaneously blanched, and the whole group descended into laughter.


	9. A Wish (Your Heart Makes)

CHAPTER 9: A WISH (YOUR HEART MAKES)

" _Have faith in your dreams and someday_

_Your rainbow will come smiling through._

_No matter how your heart is grieving_

_If you keep on believing_

_The dream that you wish will come true."_

 

It took about a month for Zuko to realize that his life was more or less back to normal.

After the botched ritual, Azula had taken the prisoners on her warship and flown back to the Fire Nation. According to the rumors that Zuko had heard, she had been greeted with much acclaim, and his father had indeed discussed giving his young daughter a more powerful position in the military. Zuko couldn't quite decide if he was proud of his little sister or scared of her new role.

As for the rest of them, Zuko had decided to sail with Hakoda and his children back to the Southern Water Tribe, accompanied by the Avatar and the rest of the Water Tribe Sailors. They had invited Sokka's friend Toph along, but the blind girl had made a face at the very first mention of "snow-covered village" and refused.

Instead, Toph decided it was probably time for her to go back home. Zuko hadn't realized that Toph had run away, but that surprise was nothing compared to finding out that she was the only daughter of the Beifong family. Lao Beifong's enterprises made up at least one third of the Fire Nation's trade with the Earth Kingdom. Zuko wasted no time in composing a quick letter to Lao Beifong praising his daughter's abilities while subtly suggesting that a stronger relationship with the Fire Nation would be beneficial to all parties involved.

When he read the letter to Toph, she laughed uproariously and called him a suck-up, but promised to relay the message.

In the end, Chief Hakoda had accompanied their small group to escort Toph back home. They told a weeping Poppy Beifong about the pirates and their heroic escape, though they left out the magic and the fact that Toph had run away of her own accord.

"Thanks for that," Toph had said, just before they left. "Wouldn't want them to catch on to my escape route for the  _next_  time they try to marry me off."

Zuko wasn't sure exactly what that meant, but something about the way Toph's father kept a firm grip on her hand gave him the impression that they wouldn't be trying to marry her off any time soon. The irritated expression on Toph's face, however, told him that Toph running away again would probably happen within a month.

After leaving Toph with her family, they had loaded up the ship and set sail for the Southern Water Tribe. It was a fairly long journey, but Zuko was still on his "vacation" and Aang wrote off the whole trip as strengthening relations with the Water Tribe. In reality, most of their time was spent avoiding the sailors doing  _actual_  work and goofing off with Sokka and Katara. Aang sometimes took all four of them out on Appa, though the giant air bison was usually found sleeping on the top deck.

Zuko leaned against the edge of the ship, staring out across the vast ocean. As they went farther south, the waters began to get sprinkled with icebergs, and Zuko had been able to see his breath for a solid two weeks now. Hakoda had been kind enough to provide thick furs, which Zuko and Aang very gratefully accepted.

"You know, we're missing something," a voice said from behind him, and Zuko turned to see Sokka approaching, with Katara just behind him. She gave Zuko a quick smile, cheeks red from the cold.

"Oh, yeah?" Zuko asked. Now that he wasn't a badger-cat, Zuko could see the very clear resemblance between Katara and Sokka. The latter was tall and lean, with messy brown hair and the same piercing blue eyes as his sister, though his face was very similar to his father's.

Katara, who apparently took more after her mother, rolled her eyes. "Sokka, we've been over this. Real life is different from fairytales."

"Hey, hear me out," Sokka said, holding his hands up in a defensive gesture. "I'm just saying, if we're going to have pirates and magic rituals and kidnapping, we might as well end it right. We need a wedding."

Zuko raised an eyebrow. "A… wedding?" he repeated, bemused.

"Sokka thinks that since every fairytale he's ever heard ends with 'happily ever after', we have to have a conclusive ceremony to that end," Katara explained, walking over to stand next to Zuko along the edge.

"I'm just saying!" Sokka protested. "Happily ever after. We need to be able to wrap it up all neatly like that, and how better to do that than a wedding? Stories do it all the time."

"You mean between the Princess and the Frog-Otter?" Katara mocked him. "Guess you better propose to Aang, then."

Sokka's amusement vanished into a dark pout. He pointed at Katara dramatically and said, "You take that back. We'll have  _no more_  of that."

"What was that thing Dad said?" Katara wondered aloud, eyes twinkling with amusement. "Something about you taking off some guy's belt?"

"That is  _entirely_  out of context!"

Before the two siblings could start squabbling, Zuko cleared his throat, grinning at the two of them as they turned to face him. He said, "I get what you're saying about the story, Sokka, but I don't think a wedding is a good conclusion. Weddings are beginnings, not endings."

"True, I guess," Sokka acknowledged, considering the matter.

"Besides," Zuko continued, "we stopped the ritual, beat the pirates and sailed off into the sunset. Well, kind of, 'cause we're going, um, south, not west, but –  _still._ That's as good a 'happily ever after' as we could ask for."

Katara smiled up at him. "That's a good way to look at it."

Sokka shrugged, but before he could debate the matter, a gust of air blew past the ship, sending all of their hair flying around. Zuko turned to see Aang sitting on Appa, matching pace with the ship as they flew alongside it.

"Hey!" Aang called, his expression bright and excited. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah, yeah," Sokka called, holding up a pack that Zuko hadn't realized he was carrying. The lanky boy climbed over the edge of the railing and jumped awkwardly onto Appa, managing to land rather gracefully.

"Where are you two heading off to?" Zuko asked, eyes narrowing.

Sokka looked back, shooting him a grin, and said, "This story needs a better ending. Don't worry, Dad knows where I'm going."

"I should hope so," Katara replied. She looked confused.

"Bye!" Aang said cheerfully, waving at the both of them. "Yip yip!"

Zuko and Katara watched as Appa took off into the sky, flying back the way they came. They exchanged bewildered glances, but as no answer was forthcoming, neither one moved from their position along the side of the ship.

Finally, Katara said, "I liked your analogy, by the way. About this being the happy ending. No dramatic actions required."

Zuko smiled at her. In a burst of inspiration, he reached down and grabbed her hand. She blinked, surprised by the motion, but in the next moment she smiled and intertwined her fingers with his.

"Maybe just one," Zuko said simply, feeling his cheeks burn despite the firmness of his grip.

"Well, all right," Katara acknowledged. "I guess that's allowed."

They stood together like that for a long time.

* * *

In Gaoling, the weather was sunny and breezy, making it for a perfect day to spend in the courtyard outside. Granted, Toph was fairly sure that the guards were  _still_  giving hourly reports to her parents on her position, but she was sure that would die down eventually. Earth Rumble 17 wasn't for another month, anyway, so she wasn't too worried. Besides, they never checked at night.

After Toph had returned home, her parents had informed her that due to the circumstances, her engagement had been called off. Her father had said it with a gentle tone and tried to blame it on some kind of disagreement with Lao Chen, but Toph had been too busy being  _utterly thrilled_  to listen. Overprotective parents, she could deal with. Handling a stupid fiancée, however, was something that she  _never_  wanted experience in.

In any case, Toph was enjoying the way the sun-warmed dirt felt against her bare feet when she noticed a strange vibration along the far wall of the courtyard. Frowning, she concentrated on the new movement and realized that she knew the two people who were trying to sneak into her home.

She rolled her eyes. Moments later, she slammed her foot into the ground, sending a wave of earthbending toward the invaders, which in turn launched them through the air. Both boys landed near her with a heavy crash.

"What are you doing here, Twinkletoes?" Toph asked, standing over the Avatar, who was tangled in a bush.

"Hi, Toph," Aang replied cheerfully.

"Why do you keep  _responding_  to that?" groaned Sokka, lying in a heap on the ground. "It's not  _manly_."

"Neither is your face, Sokka," Toph inserted smoothly.

"Hey!" protested Sokka, offended. There was short pause before he realized, "Wait, you can't even see my face!"

" _Anyway_ ," Toph interrupted, grinning at Sokka's blustering. "You still haven't answered my question. What are you guys doing here? I thought you were going back to the Southern Water Tribe."

"Well, we were," Aang said, climbing to his feet, "And then I thought, I need an earthbending teacher. And  _you_  just so happen to be the greatest earthbender I've ever met."

"Plus, your family is stupid," Sokka added.

"Hey!" Toph accused, making a face at him. "Only I can insult my family. You get to kiss the ground we walk on." Without waiting for Sokka to reply, she turned to Aang and said, "So, what, you want to hang around Gaoling?"

"Well, actually," Aang said, "There's a traditional earthbending training ground outside of Ba Sing Se for the Avatar. We don't  _have_ to use it, but it's renowned for being one of the best training areas in the world."

Toph frowned. "Gotta be honest, my parents aren't going to let me go to Ba Sing Se. They barely let me leave the house. Especially after the whole pirate incident."

"Yeeeeah," Sokka said, coughing awkwardly. Toph felt him looking around for guards. "We figured they'd be against it. Which is why we're sort of here to kidnap you. Again."

"We'll leave a note!" Aang offered brightly. Toph could practically  _hear_  his stupid grin.

She crossed her arms, glaring in their general direction. But even as she tried to maintain an air of offended propriety, Toph found herself getting excited by the concept. Teaching the Avatar earthbending in a famous Avatar training ground? And better yet, getting away from her parents and the stupid dresses?

Toph grinned despite herself.

Encouraged by her reaction, Aang stepped forward, asking, "Please, Sifu Toph? Will you teach me earthbending?"

" _Sifu_  Toph, huh?" repeated Toph. "I like the sound of that."

"Awesome," Sokka said, nudging her on the shoulder with a closed fist. He looked up toward the estate and asked, "So, do you know where we could find something to write with?

* * *

One hour later, the guards were searching frantically for Mistress Beifong, who hadn't made it to afternoon tea. One hapless guard found a note stuck in the branches of a bush in the courtyard, which read:

_Dear Mom and Dad,_

_NOT KIDNAPPED. Promise. Seriously, read that first line until it sinks in._

_I'm going to teach the Avatar earthbending. I'm safe; don't worry. No, I'm not telling you where I'm going, but I'll come home when I'm finished._

_Love, your daughter Toph_

_P.S. Sorry Sokka's handwriting sucks. – Aang_


End file.
